Medial elbow injuries in the throwing athlete: youth to professional

There has been an epidemic increase in injuries to the elbow in our youth sports over the past 15 years.6 Initially, career ending elbow injuries occurred almost exclusively in the professional population. The landmark procedure developed by Dr. Frank Jobe, colloquially termed “Tommy John Surgery” after the initial player in whom he performed the surgery, allowed roughly 2/3 of professional athletes to return to play at or near the same level. As the surgical procedure became more widespread, modifications in the technique by Jobe and many other contributors raised th e return to play level to 85-94% of players regaining the ability to return to sport at the pre-injury level.
Source: Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery - Category: Orthopaedics Authors: Tags: Review Article Source Type: research