The UCL: The Two Bundles

Humerus, Radius, Ulana (arms): To support your wrist and fingers when hitting the ball, it also provides power when hitting the ball.

Ulnar collateral ligament injury is a type of elbow injury that develops from repeated overhand throwing movements (overuse). This motion places a lot of stress on the two strong bands of tissue (ligaments) that hold your elbow joint in place. The ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) is a main ligament located on the inside of your elbow. Over time, repetitive overhand throwing can damage the UCL.

The ulnar collateral ligament is a structure that keeps the humerus and the ulna in a normal relationship. The most common cause of an injury to the UCL is repetitive stress to the elbow. Most commonly it is cause by repetitive throwing. You will most likely see this injury happen in throwing sports, such as baseball. The injury can start to happen over time or the ligament can pop from too much force.

Once inside the elbow the unlar nerveis recognized, lifted out, and moved to provide greater access to the joint. This is the "funny bone" nerve and it runs inside the ulnar groove.

The surgery was frist performed in 1974 by orthopedic surgen Dr. Frank Jobe, was named after the first baseball player to undergo this surgery; Tommy John was the major league pitcher whose record of 288 career victories ranks seventh all time. This procedure is made to help a person with UCL also known as ulnar collateral ligament also known as the elbow. The procedure is common among collegiate and professional athletes in several sport, but most in baesball. The procedure goes as follow, the patient’s arm is open up aroung the elbow. Holes to accommodate a new tendon are drilled in the ulna and humerus ones of the elbow. The doctor then gets a tendon such as the palmaris tendon from the forearm of the same or opposite elbow, the patellar tendon, or a cadeveric tendon. Which are ten woven in a figure eight pattern through the holes and anchored. The ulnar nevre is usually moved to prevent pain as scar tissue can appy pressure to the nerve.

When was the last time you thought about your ulnar collateral ligament? Have you ever thought about stretches you should do for your elbow and arm before throwing anything? How about what even makes your elbow work? These are things I never took into consideration before my injury.

A, an unloaded knee. B, when valgus loading is applied, the medial collateral ligament becomes taut and lateral compression occurs. C, this compressive load, as well as the anterior force vector caused by quadriceps contraction, causes a displacement of the femur relative to the tibia where the lateral femoral condyle shifts posteriorly and the tibia translates anteriorly and rotates internally, resulting in ACL rupture. D, after the ACL is torn, the primary restraint to anterior translation of the tibia is gone. This causes the medial femoral condyle to also be displaced posteriorly, resulting in external rotation of the tibia. ( 63 )

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and the Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) are located inside the knee joint. The ACL and PCL form an ‘X’ behind the kneecap (patella), with the ACL resting in front of the PCL. Both of these ligaments are responsible for controlling the back and forth motion of the knee joint; however, the ACL is responsible for stabilizing the kneecap ). In addition, the ACL is responsible for preventing the shin bone (tibia) from sliding forward on the thigh bone (femur). The ACL provides the knee with stability while an individual pivots or twists. This ligament is critical because without it, performing any kind of rotational activity is impossible, particularly when it comes to playing sports like soccer and basketball.

Ulnar collateral ligament tear (UCL) contains a sprain to inner elbow ligament. Once significant stress is placed upon the UCL, an injury occurs. However, two UCL injury treatments include icing and excluding throwing activates for six weeks. Icing reduces inflammation, whereas not throwing influences healing. In addition, injury prevention exercises include heavy dumbbell farmer walk, squishy ball squeezes, and dumbbell wrist curls. Heavy dumbbell farmer walks specify athlete to walk Five yards while holding dumbbells. Exercise is succeeded four days per week with three sets of five, progressing into weight increases. Squishy ball squeezes require athletes to grip squishy ball frequently contracting then releasing. Exercise is succeeding three

The ACL originates from the medial and anterior aspect of the tibial plateau and runs superiorly, laterally, and posteriorly toward its insertion on the lateral femoral condyle. Together with the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), the ACL guides the instantaneous center of rotation of the knee, therefore controlling joint kinematics. To a lesser degree, the ACL checks extension and hyperextension. The ACL is not as strong as the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), and it is less strong at its femoral origin than at its tibial insertion. Muscles surrounding the knee joint contribute to knee stabilization during lower extremity movements.

Compensatory Approach: Prevent further deformation of the ulnar drift with swan neck deformities to maintain client’s present ROM in B (UE).

The ACL extends posteriorly and laterally from a point anterior to the intercondylar area of the tibia to the posterior part of the medial surface of the lateral condyle of the femur (Tortora, 2009). In layman's terms, it extends diagonally in the middle of the knee joint connecting the shin and thighbones. The ACL is a complex structure that has an irregular nature. It has a multi vesicular structure that had been ignored for many years as it was originally thought to function as a simple band of fibers with constant tension as the knee moves. Multiple collagen bundles lead to the multivesicular nature of the ACL (Arnoczky, 1983). There are three functional bundles that make up the ACL; the anteromedial, intermediate, and posterolateral.

Also, there are injuries that belong to each gender, such as males being more prone to Tommy John Surgery. “Tommy John was a 31-year-old left-handed pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers when he tore his ulnar collateral ligament in July 1974. This injury has ended the career of many baseball players in the MBL (“Tommy John Surgery”). The ulnar collateral ligament is also known as the (UCL) which is located inside the elbow. The UCL plays a huge role in throwing for pitchers. Furthermore, tearing this ligament means the player will undergo a great surgery. “The pioneering surgeon transplanted a tendon from John 's right forearm to his left elbow, a revolutionary new procedure that had been tried only a few times before and never on a professional athlete” (“Tommy John Surgery”). After many months of physical therapy prescribed by the AT, the elbow should feel more stable

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a ligament that can be found in the knee. The ACL attaches two of three bones that link to form the knee joint. These bones are the tibia, which is the larger bone in the calf area, and the femur, which is the bone found in the thigh. The third, non-connected bone is the patella, which is the kneecap that offers protection to the overall area. The knee joint houses four primary ligaments, which are separated into the following two groups. The collateral ligaments, which consist of the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) and the medial collateral ligament (MCL), can be found toward the left and right of the patella. Collateral ligaments regulate sideways movements along with bracing for atypical

The Ulnar collateral ligament that will be discussed is the ligament in the inner part of the elbow that connects your Humerus to your Ulna, its purpose is to help support and stabilize the arm ( ). An Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) tear occurs when that ligament that connects the Humerus to the Ulna is put under repetitive stress or trauma that causes the ligament to tear. Movements that can put stress on this ligament are actions such as repeatedly throwing a baseball or spiking a volleyball. These actions move the elbow in a way that does not work in the flex/extend motion that the hinge joint of the elbow works in. Because of this, Baseball and Volleyball are the most common sports where this injury occurs ( ).