Dr. Lee Hunter specializes in procedures of the elbow, wrist, and hand. Dr. Hunter has over 20 years of experience in upper extremity surgery and personally developed a surgical arm positioning system to make surgical procedures technically easier, more efficient, and safer. This novel arm positioning system received seven United States patents and was acquired by a global orthopaedic medical device company. Dr. Hunter specializes in conservative and surgical management of common and rare orthopaedic upper extremity problems.
Dr. Zachary Pharr specializes in elbow injuries as they relate to sports medicine. Dr. Pharr has treated athletes from youth to professional sports. He performs UCL repair and reconstruction, also known as Tommy John Surgery, but offers UCL repair with internal brace for throwing athletes, allowing a quicker return to play than the traditional Tommy John surgery. His goal is to treat the athlete as conservatively as possible, while focusing on a return to pre-injury activity levels.
An example of issues that cause sore elbows include gout, tendonitis, bursitis, or cartilage injuries, to name a few. As there are many issues that cause pain, there are also many ways in which we can treat that pain. The most common treatment methods for sore elbows are ice, elevation, and avoiding or minimizing the activities that you believe may have caused the problem in the first place. Elbow compressive wraps and forearm or wrist splints are often used. Cortisone injections may be quite helpful for relieving the pain of certain conditions such as tendonitis, arthritis, gout, or inflammation in the joint that just won’t go away.
Following are a few of the elbow conditions that Dr. Hunter treats. Click to read more about the causes of these conditions and how they’re treated.
Elbow osteoarthritis
Lateral epicondylitis (Tennis elbow)
Olecranon bursitis
Cubital tunnel syndrome
Rheumatoid arthritis
Bicep tendon rupture/laceration
Cubital Tunnel Syndrome is a compression injury to the ulnar nerve near the elbow. This is the nerve that produces a jolt when you bump your “funny bone.”
Lateral Epicondylitis, commonly called tennis elbow, is an inflammation of the tendons that connect the muscles of the forearm to the elbow. The pain is primarily felt at the lateral epicondyle, the bony bump on the outer side of the elbow.
Repetitive throwing places severe stress on the elbow joint. The throwing motion stretches the tendons and ligaments on the inner side of the elbow and compresses the structures on the outer side. These forces can damage tissue and bone, especially in young athletes whose bones have not fully matured.
To learn more about diseases, conditions, treatment options, and recovery, please visit orthoinfo.org.
