This 2003 current concepts review from the American Sports Medicine Institute covers the diagnosis and management of the full spectrum of elbow injuries in overhead throwing athletes — from UCL tears and ulnar neuritis to olecranon osteophytes, OCD of the capitellum, and medial epicondyle apophysitis — with operative technique descriptions for UCL reconstruction, arthroscopic debridement, and olecranon fixation.
When you evaluate a pitcher with medial elbow pain, always exclude UCL insufficiency before attributing symptoms to flexor-pronator tendinitis or ulnar neuritis — isolated treatment of secondary lesions will fail if underlying valgus instability is not addressed.
Saline-enhanced arthrogram MRI (92% sensitivity, 100% specificity) is the preferred imaging modality for UCL evaluation when clinical suspicion is high and noncontrast MRI is equivocal.
This 2003 current concepts review from the American Sports Medicine Institute covers the diagnosis and management of the full spectrum of elbow injuries in overhead throwing athletes — from UCL tears and ulnar neuritis to olecranon osteophytes, OCD of the capitellum, and medial epicondyle apophysitis — with operative technique descriptions for UCL reconstruction, arthroscopic debridement, and olecranon fixation.
When you evaluate a pitcher with medial elbow pain, always exclude UCL insufficiency before attributing symptoms to flexor-pronator tendinitis or ulnar neuritis — isolated treatment of secondary lesions will fail if underlying valgus instability is not addressed.
Saline-enhanced arthrogram MRI (92% sensitivity, 100% specificity) is the preferred imaging modality for UCL evaluation when clinical suspicion is high and noncontrast MRI is equivocal.