Joe A Shaw PA-C - 4/18/2008

Question
QUESTION: I AM 17 YEARS OLD. MALE. MY RIGHT ELBOW CLICKS AT AROUND 90 DEGREES TOWARDS THE MEDIAL SIDE. IT BEEN SAID THAT MY ULNAR NERVE SUBLUXATES FOR WHATEVER REASON. SOME SUSPECT ITS DUE TO MCL LAXITY OR BROKEN BANDS OR SHALLOW CUBITAL TUNNEL. WHAT CAN WE DO? MY PARENTS R DOCTORS AND R AGAINST SURGERY.

ANSWER: RJ'
I would agree w your parents based on the info your provided. You are not having pain, you have full range of motion, you are not having any numbness or tingling in the hand like an ulnar nerve entrapment problem etc...
I'm assuming you have been evaluated by a sports medicine ortho..based on your "diagnosis"? If there are tears or laxity of the MCL etc..then yes that could cause your elbow joint (hinge Joint) to be out of alignment and catch a little in certain positions. But to tear these things you would have had to do something...did or do you pitch a lot, Tennis, football etc??
I think you could see a good PT who sees a lot of sports related upper extremity problems and try formal PT to see if you can tighten up those structures.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: but is it possible to tighten the mcl with exercise? are the various surgeries really as dangerous as my family makes it out to be? what are the chances of this taking care of itself?

Answer
Well first of all you need to have a diagnosis by an ortho who specializes in elbow and upper exts issues. PT is advised because it will do no harm and it may help. Wouldn't you hate to have the surgery then have complications, scar tissue, contraction problems etc and end up w permn numbness or pain?...then find out later that someone w condition similar to yours got better w PT?.
You certainly may end up having surgery..but you need to exhaust all conservative measures first!
I don't even know what surgery you would have because there is no defenitive diagnosis at this point.