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Background: In the recent years, considerable improvements have come in biomechanical knowledge about the role of elbow stabilizers. In particular, the complex interactions among the different stabilizers when injured at the same time have been better understood. Anyway, uncertainties about both nomenclature and classification still exist in the definition of the different patterns of instability., Material and Methods: The authors examine the literature of the last 130 years about elbow instability classification, analyzing the intuitions and the value of each of them. However, because of the lack of a satisfactory classification, in 2015 a working group has been created inside SICSeG (Italian Society of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery) with the aim of defining an exhaustive classification as simple, complete and reproducible as possible., Results: A new all-inclusive elbow instability classification is proposed. This classification considers two main parameters: timing (acute and chronic forms) and involved stabilizers (simple and complex forms), and four secondary parameters: etiology (traumatic, rheumatic, congenital…), the involved joint (radius and ulna as a single unit articulating with the humerus or the proximal radio-ulnar joint), the degree of displacement (dislocation or subluxation) and the mechanism of instability or dislocation (PLRI, PMRI, direct axial loading, pure varus or valgus stress)., Conclusions: This classification is at the same time complete enough to include all the instability patterns and practical enough to be effectively used in the clinical practice. This classification can help in defining a shared language, can improve our understanding of the disorder, reduce misunderstanding of diagnosis and improve comparison among different case series.

Background: Total elbow arthroplasties (TEAs) are usually indicated in chronic inflammatory arthropathies. This procedure has also recently been used in complex distal humeral fractures and nonunions in selected patients. This study analyzed the clinical and radiographic outcomes in patients treated for nonunions around the elbow region with a minimum follow-up of 3 years., Methods: Between May 2002 and June 2012, 20 patients affected with distal humeral nonunions were treated with TEA. All patients were assessed clinically using the Mayo Elbow Performance Score and radiographically to evaluate the positioning of the prosthetic components and signs of loosening. Statistical analyses were performed to investigate the presence of clinical and radiographic variables as predictive factors of poor functional outcomes., Results: The Mayo Elbow Performance Score of the affected arm improved significantly between the preoperative period and follow-up. Results were good or excellent in 90% of the patients even if a high rate of complications (30%) was encountered. The development of complications after surgery and stages II, III, and IV radiolucency, according to the Morrey criteria, were predictive factors of poor outcomes., Conclusions: According to the satisfactory results observed in this study, TEA could be indicated in selected patients aged older than 70 years with low functional demands and affected with distal humeral nonunions in which obtaining a stable fixation is difficult., (Copyright © 2015 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The elbow, intermediate joint of the upper limb, frequently undergoes to pathological events and is especially prone to stiffness. Rehabilitation plays an important role in recovering functional activities. For the rehabilitation team, this goal always represents a challenge, as the treatment has to be continuously modeled and calibrated on the needs of the individual patient, even many times during the same rehabilitation cycle. Containing the effects of immobilization, avoiding to excessively stress the healing tissues, satisfying specific clinical criteria before moving to the next rehabilitation stage, basing the rehabilitation plan on up-to-date clinical and scientific data that can be adapted to each patient and to his/her needs are the basic principles of the rehabilitation plan, which can be chronologically grouped into four rehabilitation stages. After summarizing the general principles of elbow treatment, the specific principles of rehabilitation after elbow fractures and elbow instability are presented, and then the rehabilitative approach to the most frequent and feared pathological conditions of the elbow, namely stiffness, is described.

Invalidating elbow contractures, a frequent problem after injury, are commonly treated by physical therapy or surgical release. In both cases, results can be frustrating: physical therapy is often not sufficient to gain functional range of motion, and after surgical release it is common to lose part of the motion gained in operating room. Thanks to the viscous-elastic properties of the soft tissue, the mobilization elbow braces can stretch the retracting or retracted tissues inducing a biological lengthening of collagen fibres. In post-traumatic contracture, mobilization braces are effectively employable in two main critical situations: to treat recent onset contractures which do not respond to simple physical therapy and to help in preserving range of motion gained after surgical release. We report our experience with mobilization brace used in 42 patients, 5 for post-traumatic contracture, 4 for contracture following articular fracture fixation and 33 after surgical release. Classification, indications and treatment protocols of the mobilization braces utilized are reported.