Article
Orthopedics
Ravi Vaswani, Alex White, Joshua Dines
Summary: The article reviews UCL injuries in contact athletes. UCL injuries in overhead throwing athletes are usually chronic attenuation, while UCL injuries in contact athletes are typically acute tears or avulsions. Nonoperative treatment is recommended for partial injuries. Recent literature has focused on UCL reconstruction in baseball players, with good outcomes. There is a lack of research on UCL injuries in contact athletes. A recent study found positive short-term outcomes using a new technique for UCL repair in baseball players.
CURRENT REVIEWS IN MUSCULOSKELETAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Orthopedics
Sean M. Kennedy, Joseph P. Hannon, John E. Conway, Kalyssa Creed, J. Craig Garrison
Summary: Baseball pitchers who start pitching before the age of 10 show significantly greater DHRT and NDHRT in players with UCL injuries, indicating that starting pitching at a younger age results in increased HRT.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE
(2021)
Review
Orthopedics
Christopher J. Hadley, David Edelman, Alfonso Arevalo, Nimit Patel, Michael G. Ciccotti, Christopher C. Dodson
Summary: This systematic review found that adolescent patients are generally able to return to their preinjury level of performance or higher with limited complications after UCL reconstruction of the elbow. Further investigation is necessary to determine long-term outcomes for return to play in adolescent throwing athletes.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE
(2021)
Review
Orthopedics
Bryson R. Kemler, Somnath Rao, Donald P. Willier, Robert A. Jack, Brandon J. Erickson, Steven B. Cohen, Michael G. Ciccotti
Summary: The majority of surgeons tend to use time-based criteria rather than functional or performance-based criteria to determine the return to sport after UCLR. There is wide variability in the recommended time from surgery to return to activity in the literature.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE
(2022)
Review
Orthopedics
Varun Gopinatth, Anjay K. Batra, Zeeshan A. Khan, Garrett R. Jackson, Harkirat S. Jawanda, Enzo S. Mameri, Johnathon R. McCormick, Derrick M. Knapik, Jorge Chahla, Nikhil N. Verma
Summary: For athletes with nonoperatively managed UCL injuries, the overall rate of return to sports (RTS) was 79.7%, while the rate of return to previous level of play (RTLP) was 77.9%. Excellent outcomes were seen in grade 1 and grade 2 UCL injuries, with significantly higher RTS rate for proximal tears compared to distal tears.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Sport Sciences
Jason L. Zaremski
Summary: Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injuries are common in throwing athletes and can make throwing difficult. Accurate diagnosis can be achieved through imaging modalities such as MRI and ultrasonography. Treatment depends on the severity and location of the injury, with complete tears and partial distal tears more likely to require surgical intervention. Both conservative and surgical treatments have high return-to-play rates, but surgical reconstruction requires a longer rehabilitation process.
SPORTS HEALTH-A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH
(2022)
Article
Orthopedics
Edward S. Chang, Anthony H. Le, Austin M. Looney, Donald F. Colantonio, William B. Roach, Melvin D. Helgeson, DesRaj M. Clark, Donald R. Fredericks, Sameer H. Nagda
Summary: The study aimed to describe a novel UCL reconstruction technique using proximal-to-distal ulnar bone tunnels to better re-create the UCL anatomy. Biomechanical testing showed that this anatomic technique had similar stability to the native UCL and traditional docking technique, with the advantage of keeping ulnar tunnels farther from the ulnar nerve.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Orthopedics
Max D. Gehrman, Louis C. Grandizio
Summary: Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injuries are common among overhead throwing athletes and can be career-ending. Tommy John Surgery is a common reconstruction procedure, but some athletes can manage the injury without surgery.
JOURNAL OF HAND SURGERY-AMERICAN VOLUME
(2022)
Review
Orthopedics
Austin M. Looney, Nathan P. Fackler, Mark A. Pianka, Blake M. Bodendorfer, Caroline M. Fryar, Christine M. Conroy, Jacob E. Israel, David X. Wang, Michael G. Ciccotti, Edward S. Chang
Summary: The study compared the docking and figure-of-8 techniques in elbow ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction and found no significant difference in complication rates or subsequent unplanned surgical procedures when controlling for flexor pronator mass preservation and avoiding routine submuscular ulnar nerve transposition. By using modern muscle-sparing approaches, the modified Jobe technique did not significantly differ from the docking technique in terms of complication rates, proportions of cases with nerve-specific complications, or rates of subsequent unplanned surgical procedures.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Orthopedics
Timothy B. Griffith, Stan Conte, George C. Poulis, Adam Diamond, John D'Angelo, Christopher L. Camp
Summary: A study of 717 professional baseball pitchers who underwent MUCLR surgery found significant variability in postoperative rehabilitation protocols and the timing of achieving rehabilitation milestones, but these factors did not correlate with the outcomes of recovery.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Rehabilitation
Jason L. Zaremski, Marissa Pazik, Cooper W. Dean, Niran Vijayaraghavan, Nicholas P. Fethiere, Kevin W. Farmer, Mary Beth Horodyski
Summary: This study revealed a significant association between forearm flexor injuries and concomitant ulnar collateral ligament injuries in throwing athletes. Future research should investigate the causation versus correlation of forearm flexor and ulnar collateral ligament injuries.
Article
Orthopedics
Marcus A. Rothermich, Zachary K. Pharr, Andrew C. Mundy, Glenn S. Fleisig, Eric A. Mussell, Michael K. Ryan, Hunter M. Bernier, Brook Ostrander, Jonathan S. Slowik, Benton A. Emblom, E. Lyle Cain, Jeffrey R. Dugas
Summary: This study evaluated the clinical outcomes of UCL repair and UCL reconstruction in nonthrowing athletes and found favorable results in terms of return-to-play rate and clinical outcomes. The findings were consistent with previous studies conducted on baseball players.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE
(2022)
Review
Orthopedics
Kemp Knott, Stephen Leinfelder, Ryan Schultz, Anthony Balzer, Andrew R. Palisch
Summary: Injuries to the ulnar collateral ligament of the thumb metacarpophalangeal joint are of interest for both athletes and non-athletes. This article reviews the magnetic resonance imaging categorization of these injuries and proposes two additional injury patterns seen in high-level and professional athletes who play American football. Additionally, a novel surgical technique called internal brace augmentation is introduced, which provides protection and speeds up the recovery process.
SKELETAL RADIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Acoustics
Brittany J. Moore, Julia L. Iafrate, Sanjeev Kakar, Stephen J. Wisniewski, Naveen S. Murthy, Jay Smith
Summary: This study found that ultrasound is as accurate as MRI in identifying thumb UCL tears, and it is also more cost-effective and feasible as an alternative imaging modality.
JOURNAL OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE
(2021)
Review
Orthopedics
Austin M. Looney, David X. Wang, Christine M. Conroy, Jake E. Israel, Blake M. Bodendorfer, Caroline M. Fryar, Mark A. Pianka, Nathan P. Fackler, Michael G. Ciccotti, Edward S. Chang
Summary: This study compared the outcomes and return-to-play time between docking and figure-of-8 techniques for UCL reconstruction. The results indicated that when flexor-pronator mass was preserved and submuscular ulnar nerve transposition was not performed, there was no significant difference in the proportion of excellent outcomes or RTP time between the two techniques.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE
(2021)
