Abstract
The present study is a report of retrospective case series of stress fracture of the olecranon. Six patients presented posterior elbow pain in throwing in baseball and softball, but fracture was not diagnosed in radiographs. We detected stress fracture of the olecranon using computed tomographic (CT) scan and treated the patient with internal fixation with a headless cannulated double threaded screw through a small skin incision. All patients returned to competitive level without elbow complaints after the operation.When throwing athletes present with unusual posterior elbow pain and no significant findings on radiographs, a CT scan examination should be performed. We recommend surgical treatment of internal fixation with a screw through a small skin incision, as a good option for stress fracture of the olecranon in order to allow early return to sports activity in competitive athletes.
Highlights
Overuse injuries of the elbow joint in throwing athletes, such as osteochondritis dissecans of the capitelum humeri at the lateral side of the elbow joint and insufficiency of the medial collateral ligament at the medial side of the elbow joint, are common in sports medicine
Osteoshondrosis of the capitelum humeri are caused by impaction of the humeroradial joint and injuries of the medial collateral ligament are caused by excessive traction force due to valgus stress applied to the elbow during throwing [1,2]
We present the clinical features of a stress fracture of the olecranon in six skeletally mature patients who were treated with internal fixation through a small incision
Summary
Overuse injuries of the elbow joint in throwing athletes, such as osteochondritis dissecans of the capitelum humeri at the lateral side of the elbow joint and insufficiency of the medial collateral ligament at the medial side of the elbow joint, are common in sports medicine. We present the clinical features of a stress fracture of the olecranon in six skeletally mature patients who were treated with internal fixation through a small incision. All patients were treated with internal fixation using DTJ large screw through a small incision and the implant was not removed. All patients had neither elbow pain during throwing nor loss of range of motion of the elbow and could return to competitive level, with almost the same performance level as before injury, at 6 months after surgery. Representative case (case 2) The patient, a 16 year-old-man, was a high school baseball pitcher He felt pain in the posterior aspects of the right elbow during throwing. We diagnosed the patient with stress fracture of the olecranon and treated him with internal fixation using DTJ large screw as described above (Figure 2). The patient returned to competitive baseball without elbow symptoms 6 months after the internal fixation
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