How is it done?

Tommy John Surgery is actually a somewhat simple process. In a nutshell, the doctors go into the elbow through an incision made on the medial side of the elbow, and remove the torn UCL. Then they retrieve another ligament from somewhere else in the body, most often the leg or the wrist. This new ligament is then put in place of the old UCL and woven through a series of holes that have been drilled in the bone so that the ligament is in a figure-8 pattern. Finally, they stitch up the entry place and the patient is on the road to recovery.