The expert team at Elite Sports Medicine + Orthopedics specializes in UCL tear surgery — also called Tommy John surgery — which involves reconstructing the UCL with a tendon from another part of your body or a donor. We typically perform this surgery when the ligament tear is severe enough that it causes instability of the elbow or limits the individual from activities they enjoy.
UCL tear surgery happens while you’re asleep under general anesthesia. Your surgeon makes an incision along the inside of your elbow to expose the ligament. They remove damaged tissue and drill holes in the lower arm bone, or the ulna, and upper arm bone, the humerus, which the UCL connects. The new tendon gets threaded through these holes and secured by sutures, screws or buttons to form a new ligament.
