We’ve just gotten some rough news. Despite having pretty clean mechanics and not overusing his arm, our son injured his elbow the summer after his junior year in high school. On his doctor’s advice, he tried to rehab it conservatively for a year, which ultimately did not work and ended up in TJ surgery the summer after graduation. The good part was that he still ended up with a baseball scholarship to his dream school. They never stopped believing in him and remained supportive throughout, saying they were in it for the long haul. He went through the grueling rehab, worked the scoreboard his freshman season in college, and stayed as involved with the team as his injury would allow. First he passed the 12-month post-surgery mark, then 18. Elbow and shoulder pain came and went throughout the fall and he chalked it up to rigors of TJ rehab. He tried everything possible in terms of working with his coach on mechanical adjustments, but frustratingly his velocity never returned. Whereas he’d been 89-91 before his injury, now 20 months post-surgery and with this year’s season about to begin he was sitting low 80’s, touching mid-80’s and his elbow was in pain – again. He got an MRI last week and sure enough the graft is partially torn. They have no idea how long it has been this way but it could have been for quite awhile, which would explain his lack of progress. He’s been given two options – try PRP and rest and see if he can come back in time for the end of this year’s season (with a 50% chance of success given that the UCL graft is definitely “stretched” and PRP isn’t very likely to fix that) or get TJ revision surgery now and hope to make it back in time for his junior year. We plan to get a second opinion, but he’s leaning toward getting the surgery. While he once had aspirations of a professional career, now he just hopes to one day pitch in a college game and contribute to his team. It’s humbling how quickly an injury can change your whole perspective. If anyone has any words of wisdom or experience, we’d love to hear them.
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