Tommy John’s/ elbow ucl reconstruction?

[Mdfowlman2]

Anyone have this procedure done?
Just found that I tore my Ucl, I need a reconstruction, I can wait until after hunting season thankfully

 

[sndmn11]

I had it done in January of 2006 on my right from baseball.

 

[Mdfowlman2]

I had it done in January of 2006 on my right from baseball.

How bad was recovery to get to back to normal life, Minus pitching?
The is my non dominate arm.
It’s not a complete tear but I either attempt to have it repaired now or wait until after hunting season and have the reconstruction.

 

[sndmn11]

How bad was recovery to get to back to normal life, Minus pitching?
The is my non dominate arm.
It’s not a complete tear but I either attempt to have it repaired now or wait until after hunting season and have the reconstruction.

I was a catcher. At the time, there were less than 5 other amateur players in Colorado who had the surgery, my Doctor had only done it once, and my PT guy had only gone through it with Brad Lidge.

I was in a 90deg fixed Don Joy brace for a bout 4 months, then gained more degree of motion up to about 9 months when they let me out of that thing. I never learned how to wipe my ass left handed well. The PT process is actually how I picked up fly fishing because he wanted to find a repetitive motion that had light stress. I didn't start throwing with effort until about 11 months, and I never had any issues in throwing after that. I had a few more knee surgeries so I did not test the elbow in a whole season again.

I don't know what the long term ramifications would be of not having the surgery. I believe that the tear is a lot more common than people realize, but that the ligament isn't that crucial in most people's life so they don't know or care about their torn UCL. Unless it was dinging the ulna nerve regularly, or there was a lot of separation in the joint causing pain, I don't know that I would have the surgery.