A New Look At Ulnar Collateral Ligament "Tommy John" Elbow Injuries

My partner at Washington University Matthew Smith MD an elbow ligament and throwing injury expert and Spencer Lake PhD a Washington University Mechanical Engineer have received a grant to look at innovative ways to image the ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow utilizing polarized light. This should give us more information regarding structural properties and how better to treat these injuries. This work featured in the St. Louis Post Dispatch article from the Business Section HERE is truly exciting given the number of these injuries that are occurring in younger and younger athletes.

7 Moves To Strengthen Your Core

Core strengthening is critical for health and functioning best in sports and exercise. Find 7 key strengthening moves HERE

New Year's Resolutions Already Failing? Read 5 Ways To Restart It

30% of New Year's resolutions are abandoned within 2 weeks. If you have lost the way then read these 5 hints to help restart HERE

Cardinal's Rosenthal Will Undergo UCL (Tommy John) Surgery. What does That Mean?

Trevor Rosenthal by report will undergo ulnar collateral surgery. UCL reconstruction or Tommy John surgery as it is commonly called involves replacing a torn ligament on the inside of the elbow. The anterior band of the UCL is typically replaced with a graft. The graft may come from the forearm, knee or sometimes a cadaver. Fortunately, the results are frequently good and elbow procedures are more successful in returning throwers to the previous level than many shoulder procedures in pitchers. Read this American Journal of Sports Medicine STUDY of UCL reconstructions we performed at Washington University in the Sports Medicine group that showed a 92% success rate at returning patients to their previous level of throwing. Typically recovery takes 12 months to return to pitching competitively. 

Some Presurgical Steps May Improve Postoperative Outcomes

This article details steps an Indiana University surgeon is taking with his patients for preoperative preparation to decrease complications and improve outcomes. You can find the description HERE. Centered on immune boosting, lung training and infection prevention they have noted shorter stays and fewer complications. I know in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine at Barnes-Jewish Hospital we have adopted a much more aggressive presurgical cleansing and showering program with wipes and antibacterial soaps for showers that appears to have significantly improved our joint replacement infection rates. We will be considering adopting more of these measures to help improve other outcome measures

Sports and ACL Injuries

This blog was created to provide patients with information regarding sports injuries, their treatment and outcomes. I hope to provide more detailed information than can be readily found on the internet. It will highlight research findings from my own work as well as my Sports Division at Washington University. Additionally I will feature research findings coming from our work as part of the Mult-center Orthopaedic Outcomes Network (MOON) and the Multi-center ACL Revision Study (MARS). There will be posts on all anatomical areas and conditions seen in sports injuries. I look forward to your comments and ideas to improve the blog.