Overview
Throwing a baseball transmits tremendous force across the elbow.
The olecranon is the bone in the back of the elbow that often sees tremendous stress to follow through some baseball players will develop a fracture in the olecranon from the repetitive high stress.
PLAYER EVALUATION
- Dr. Ahmad will meet with you to discuss the nature of your symptoms
- Dr. Ahmad will perform a careful physical examination assessing your elbow range of motion, areas of tenderness, and the status of your ulnar collateral ligament.
- If your pain and physical examination suggests a fracture of the olecranon, Dr. Ahmad and his team will obtain x-rays. In addition to x-rays, a CT scan and a MRI scan may be required
Treatment Options
- Some athletes who are still growing may be successfully treated with a period of rest from throwing.
- Older athletes will require surgery in order to get back to the throne.
- Surgery includes placing screws across the fracture.
Surgical Treatment
- Olecranon stress fractures can have different features. Some fractures occur close to the tip of the bone and some fractures occur closer to the middle of. The orientation of the fracture can be simple and transverse and some fractures are oblique.
- Dr. Ahmad chooses screws and the position of the screws based on the fracture type to ensure reliable and fast
Examples of fractures that Dr. Ahmad is treated with athlete successfully getting back to throwing:
