Tommy John Surgery

“Tommy John” Surgery You hear about this all the time in baseball. This pitcher is going in for “Tommy John” surgery or otherwise known as a torn medial or ulner collateral ligament. Pitching is a very unusual act. The constant stress placed upon the arm throwing a baseball over and over is hard enough. Plus, these aren’t just fastballs that are thrown. There are curves, sliders, forkballs, split-fingers, screwballs and so on. After time, …

…percent that never come back at all. With proper mechanics, one can decrease the risk of collateral ligament tear. Other things one can do to decrease injury is proper warm-up of approximately thirty minutes before the game. Fifteen minutes stretching, five minute long toss, and throwing thirty pitches from the mound, which takes about ten minutes. After each game you should ice the elbow fifteen to twenty minutes and the shoulder twenty to twenty-five minutes.