ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injuries of the elbow are uncommon in the general population but prevalent in the athletic community, particularly among baseball players. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection therapy has become a popular nonoperative adjuvant treatment for such injuries to help reduce recovery time and avoid surgery. PURPOSE/HYPOTHESIS: To analyze patient outcomes by injury severity and identify injury types that responded most favorably and unfavorably to PRP treatment. It was hypothesized that PRP therapy would prove to be most beneficial in the treatment of lower-grade, partial UCL tears and less effective in the treatment of more severe, complete UCL tears. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. METHODS: A cohort of 50 patients with UCL injuries in their dominant elbow, diagnosed by MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) arthrogram, underwent PRP therapy in conjunction with an established rehabilitation program. UCL injuries were classified by MRI as low-grade partial tear (Type I), high-grade partial tear (Type II), complete tear (Type III), or tear in more than 1 location (Type IV). RESULTS: In total, 24 of 39 (61.5%) Type I and II tears, 3 of 3 (100%) Type III tears, and 1 of 8 (12.5%) patients with Type IV tears responded to UCL PRP injection therapy and were able to return to play without surgery. Ten patients required subsequent UCL PRP injections, of which 3 (30%) were able to return to sport without surgery. CONCLUSION: PRP treatment for Types I and II UCL tears shows great promise when combined with physical therapy and a rehabilitation program. Type III UCL tears demonstrated a high rate of success, although with low cohort numbers. Type IV UCL tears did not appear to respond well to PRP injection therapy and often required surgical intervention or cessation of sport. Therefore, PRP treatment does not appear to be appropriate for patients with complete Type IV UCL tears but may enhance recovery and improve outcomes in throwing athletes with Types I, II, and III UCL injuries.
ABSTRACT
Over the last 10-15 years, there has been a dramatic increase in popularity of running marathons. Numerous articles have reported on injuries to runners of all experience, with yearly incidence rates for injury reported to be as high as 90% in those training for marathons. To date, most of these studies have been cohort studies and retrospective surveys with remarkably few prospective studies. However, from the studies available, it is clear that more experienced runners are less prone to injury, with the number of years running being inversely related to incidence of injuries. For all runners, it is important to be fully recovered from any and all injury or illness prior to running a marathon. For those with less experience, a graduated training programme seems to clearly help prevent injuries with special attention to avoid any sudden increases in running load or intensity, with a particularly high risk for injury once a threshold of 40 miles/week is crossed. In both sexes, the most common injury by far was to the knee, typically on the anterior aspect (e.g. patellofemoral syndrome). Iliotibial band friction syndrome, tibial stress syndrome, plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis and meniscal injuries of the knee were also commonly cited.
