Category Archives: Elbow

All Blogs, Baseball, Elbow

A.J. Pollock Elbow Infection

Leave a comment

On Monday, April 29, Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder A.J. Pollock was placed on the 10-day injured list for an infected right elbow.

The infection occurred at the site of two previous surgeries for what sounds like a symptomatic open olecranon growth plate.  Growth plate issues can occur in people that throw a lot.

Pollock has been taking antibiotics, and on May 2 he underwent surgery to remove a metal screw that was inserted into the growth plate of his right elbow in his 2016 procedure. Removal of the screw is necessary to cure the infection as the screw is a foreign material in which bacteria can stay protected from the immune system and reactivate at any time. Pollock was released from the hospital on May 3rd without a timetable for his return to play, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expects him to be back this season.

All Blogs, Baseball, Elbow, pain, Shoulder, strain

Jordan Zimmermann UCL Strain

Leave a comment

The Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann left the game due to the elbow discomfort on Friday of April 26th , 2019. An MRI was reported as an ulnar collateral ligament (UCL ) sprain in his right, pitching elbow. As we often discuss on the sports injury blog (elbow problems in throwers), characterizing this as an injury or an acute sprain is inaccurate in throwers.   

Zimmermann has also had shoulder and neck pain during his time with the Tigers.  

According to team orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Stephen Lemos, Zimmerman will not have elbow surgery.  

News reports convey that the team sees it as a hopeful sign that Zimmermann won’t have surgery, but that doesn’t mean that it will be easy to get back to throwing effectively. We’ll have to see how he adapts to these issues.

All Blogs, Elbow, Football

Landon Collins Forearm Fracture

Leave a comment

New York Giants Safety and Linebacker Landon Collins broke his forearm on December 24, 2017 and had open reduction and internal fixation with plates and screws. He will undergo a second surgery on April 23, 2018 because, by report, one or both of the bones is not healing as expected.
It’s relatively unusual for a fracture of the diaphyseal radius or ulna not to heal after plate and screw fixation. Often there is a technical shortcoming (plate too short or too small), infection, or relatively severe soft-tissue injury and decreased blood supply to the bones (see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15523016 ).
X-Rays are used to see if the plate and screws are loose or broken and if bone has crossed the fracture line. When the implants loosen or break, the need for more surgery is clear. Sometimes doctors get concerned about what seems to be a persistent fracture line and offer patients a second surgery before the plates loosen or break, but that is a debatable approach.
The surgery will likely place a new plate and screws and apply some bone taken from another part of the body in order to stimulate healing.
In most cases, forearm bone fractures need about six months of healing in order to play contact sports with a reasonable level of risk.

This article was made by Paul Bonilla and David Ring