What Is Your “Tommy John” Ligament?
You’ve probably heard of a few odd or unusual terms that refer to various medical conditions, body parts, or specific injuries. One of the most common of these terms, particularly heard in sports circles, is used to describe the Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) of the elbow, also known as the “Tommy John Ligament.”
The UCL, or Tommy John ligament, is the main ligament stabilizing the inner part of the elbow. It attaches the end of the arm bone to one of the forearm bones. The UCL is often torn or stretched by activities causing repetitive strain on the ligament – particularly throwing or tennis. Stretching of the ligament can cause subtle instability in the elbow leading to pain with repetitive throwing. Often the ligament needs to be reconstructed with a tendon graft to restore its strength and allow return to pain-free throwing or overhead sports, a procedure that has become common in baseball pitchers.
Where Did The Name Tommy John Come From?
Tommy John was major league baseball pitcher for the L.A. Dodgers and New York Yankees over a twenty-year career and was the first person to undergo the procedure that now carries his name. John began to experience some serious ligament discomfort and pitching problems around 1974. Dr. Frank Jobe, a noted orthopaedic surgeon who was team physician for the L.A. Dodgers at that time diagnosed John with tearing of the UCL as the cause of his pitching problems and devised a new surgical procedure to reconstruct the ligament – a radical and controversial treatment at the time. Back then, it was believed that a major league pitcher could never return to pitching in the big leagues after having surgery. Faced with few options and the prospect of having to retire from baseball, John placed his trust in Dr. Jobe and underwent the procedure. He then went on to return to the major leagues and had a successful Hall of Fame carreer. Based on his success, the procedure became known as the “Tommy John” procedure and is now commonly performed on baseball pitchers with painful elbows.
Misconceptions About the “Tommy John” Procedure
Based on John’s experience and the success of others who have had the procedure over the years there has become a misconception that undergoing the procedure can actually improve pitching performance over that of having a normal elbow. Many players and coaches came to believe that the procedure increased pitching velocity and accuracy and that players were actually “better” after undergoing the procedure. There is no medical or biomechanical evidence to support this. However, most sports medicine and athletic trainers believe that the post-operative rehab and strengthening that players undergo after the surgery is what often times can lead to their improved performance. This has lead to more research and focus on prevent exercises and training regimens to improve performance in throwing and to help prevent the need for a thrower to undergo a “Tommy John” procedure.
Read this: Advair Diskus
Hi there friends, its great piece of writing about cultureand entirely explained, keep it up all the time.|
Asking questions are actually fastidious thing if you are not understanding something entirely, however this article presents pleasant understanding even.|
Very great post. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing in your rss feed and I am hoping you write once more soon!|
Wow! This can be one particular of the most helpful blogs We have ever arrive across on this subject. Actually Wonderful. I am also an expert in this topic therefore I can understand your hard work.
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch since I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch!
Whats Going down i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It absolutely useful and it has aided me out loads. I’m hoping to give a contribution & help different customers like its helped me. Great job.
You made some nice points there. I did a search on the subject and found most people will approve with your website.
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You obviously know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?|
I am so happy to read this. This is the kind of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that’s at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this best doc.
Very nice article and straight to the point. I don’t know if this is truly the best place to ask but do you guys have any thoughts on where to get some professional writers? Thanks 🙂
Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your blog and in accession capital to assert that I acquire actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Anyway I’ll be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you access consistently fast.
You made some clear points there. I did a search on the subject matter and found most guys will agree with your site.
Fantastic blog you have here but I was curious if you knew of any community forums that cover the same topics talked about in this article? I’d really like to be a part of online community where I can get responses from other experienced individuals that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Bless you!|
Hello friend http://buy-misoprostol-line.tumblr.com/ champion customers.
of course like your web-site but you need to test the spelling on quite a few of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling issues and I in finding it very bothersome to tell the reality nevertheless I¡¦ll certainly come back again.
What’s up to all, since I am really keen of reading this blog’s post to be updated on a regular basis. It consists of pleasant information.|
Hello. Great job. I did not anticipate this. This is a impressive story. Thanks!
I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I do not know who you are but certainly you’re going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!
Thank you for every other magnificent article. Where else may just anybody get that kind of info in such a perfect manner of writing? I’ve a presentation next week, and I’m at the look for such information.|
Hey! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this article to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!|