Sportorthopädie

Abstract

Background: Instabilities of the elbow joint can occur acutely in the context of elbow dislocation as well as chronically after inadequate healing of atraumatic ligament tear or due to repetitive microtraumata, especially in throwers. Method: Comparative review using PubMed. Inductive reasoning.Results: The diverse reasons for elbow instability cant always be reliably detected in individual cases,. The basis for specific diagnostics may often be found in the anamnesis. The duration of trauma or alternatively in case of non-traumatic complaints the beginning of symptomatology should be determined. A variety of known clinical tests can assist in searching for instability. But an established objective diagnostic is not yet known. In general, this might be the greatest diagnostic and therapeutic difficulty of elbow instability.Discussion: Decisive in the therapeutic procedure is the correct detection of the prevailing instability and the observation of the therapeutic time window for the refixation of the ligament complex in acute traumatic cases. In case of chronic microinstability, the patients personal level of suffering at the maximum load of the affected extremity in terms of occupation, everyday life and sports must also be taken into account in order to make recommendations for surgery. Correspondingly, the anatomically correct reconstruction of the injured structures must be achieved in order to meet biomechanical requirements and to avoid secondary degenerative sequelae.KEY WORDS: Instability, Elbow Luxation, Thrower Elbow, Posterolateral Rotation Instability, Lucl Ligament Repair