Nonunion of Olecranon Stress Fractures in Adolescent Baseball Pitchers

Background: Adolescent athletes participating in overhead throwing sports suffer a variety of overuse elbow injuries, many of which have been well described in the literature. Nonunion stress fractures of the olecranon across the epiphyseal plate, however, have received little attention.Purpose: To describe this unusual clinical entity in the differential diagnosis of the adolescent athlete with elbow pain and to demonstrate that operative treatment is an effective means of quickly and safely returning the patient to sporting activities.Study Design:Case series; Level of evidence, 4.Methods: Five adolescent baseball pitchers (mean age, 15 years) who suffered chronic elbow pain and who were diagnosed with olecranon epiphyseal stress fracture nonunions were treated with open reduction and internal fixation using a 7.0 cancellous screw and washer with or without 18-gauge tension banding.Results: Return to preoperative range of motion was achieved at a mean of 8.6 weeks (range, 3.4-16.6 weeks). Patients were ...