Do I need Tommy John surgery?

Описание: Treating Tommy John Injuries Without Surgery: A Breakthrough for Young Athletes Like Robert

We recently treated Robert, a 17-year-old athlete who partially tore his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL)—often referred to as a “Tommy John” injury. Instead of surgery, we used Bone Marrow Aspirate Cells (BMAC) and Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) to treat his ligament tear. Both treatments, in our hands, have shown great success in promoting healing and restoring function without the need for UCL reconstruction.

Robert was initially nervous about the bone marrow harvesting process, but afterward, he realized it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. This is a common sentiment among our patients (and even me when I had it done for my elbow back in April 2024)—many worry more about the bone marrow harvest than the injection into the elbow or affected body part, but the bone marrow harvest itself tends to be the least bothersome part.

We’ve found that we rarely need to perform Tommy John surgery on teens or patients in their 20s anymore, especially for partial tears. The literature supports the use of PRP and/or BMAC in treating UCL injuries. For example, studies like those by Podesta et al. (2013) and Dines et al. (2017) show PRP’s effectiveness, with high rates of return to play without surgery. Additionally, BMAC has shown potential in healing ligament injuries, as highlighted in Chaudhury et al. (2019).

We believe BMAC provides even more healing potential than PRP alone, giving athletes like Robert a better chance to return to their sport faster and without surgery. While we don’t yet have enough of our own results to publish, we’re hopeful that within a few years we can further validate these promising outcomes.

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