About UCL Tears The ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) is a common source of pain for athletes, especially baseball players. These injuries usually are the result of overuse or chronic stress to the ligament that helps to stabilize the elbow during overhead activities.
Causes of UCL Tears
Repetitive Overuse: the UCL injuries most commonly occur in throwers and are nearly always due to repetitive overhead motion resulting in gradual wear and tear This is most apparent in sports such as baseball where pitchers often subject their elbows to high levels of ball release123.
Acute Trauma: While overuse is the most common cause of UCL tears, they can also occur as a result of an acute trauma like a fall or a direct blow to the elbow. This may lead to the immediate results associated with the injury24.
Throwing Techniques: Athletes who use the wrong mechanics to throw a ball can over-stress their UCL, which often leads to an injury.UCL Injury (ad) Other factors include overuse and excessive throwing, in particular at inappropriate pitch lengths and possibly too high of an intensity without adequate conditioning45.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
Signs and symptoms of a UCL injury
Mild to severe pain or tenderness on the inner side of the elbow
An audible pop at the time of injury
Elbow Pain with swelling and bruising
Throwing difficulty or decreased ability to manage throws123.
Confirmation usually requires clinical examination, including valgus stress testing and imaging such as MRI to evaluate the extent of injury56.
Treatment Options
How are UCL injuries treated?
Conservative: Treatment of minor tears consists usually of rest, ice, physical therapy, and anti-inflammatory medications23.
Surgical Treatment: More serious tears may require surgical reconstruction, or the so-called “Tommy John surgery.” During this process, a tendon from another body part is used to substitute for the broken UCL145.
Rehabilitation after surgery to restore strength and function of the elbow is also important, again taking upwards of six months before players can return to competitive play .
Summary of UCL tears: Most commonly, UCL tears occur due to microtrauma from a large number of repetitive throwing motions but may also result from an acute injury. Early detection of symptoms and utilization of proper treatment tends to result in much better outcomes for the patient.
