A base ball game, July 17, 1974
Tommy John was at the top of the pitcher mound with the ball in his left hand. His team was winning. He would seal the match with one more of his ferocious deliveries. This was his 12th season with the team. Just as he sprang to deliver the fastest ball of the season, something snapped inside the elbow of his throwing arm.
The Ulnar Collateral ligament (ULC) of the throwing hand of this famous pitcher of the LA Dodger had broken on that day. It was July 17,1974. That also spelt the end of the successful career of another promising young man in base ball. He was only 31. Those were the days when the career of most of the successful baseball pitchers would end prematurely because of a break in the ULC, at least till that day. Ball throwers in any game, be it a pitcher in base ball or a bowler in a game of cricket need a healthy UCL.
Dr Frank Jobe
The team LA Dodger was lucky to have an attending sports physician named Dr Frank Jobe. Coincidentally he was an orthopaedic surgeon. Not all teams had the luxury of having a orthopaedic surgeon accompany their team. LA Dodgers had one.
Dr Jobe knew Tommy John’s career was over. He had not seen any pitcher who had continued to pitch the ball after snapping a ULC in his throwing arm. Not at least till that day. He suggested a procedure that has never been tried before.- a replacement of the broken ligament by a new one.
[ Our body is more like a thatched house of an indian village. These houses have bamboo sticks tied up by strong stay ropes. So are the 206 Bones in our bodies that are kept in position by strong ligaments. Mud is pasted over these bamboo skeletons to give it a shape. This is further plastered fine by a cow dung mix with an earthen tinge. So are our bony skeletons that are filled up by muscles and fat with layers of skin giving it a sheen.
On this day the stay rope that tied the bones of Tommy’s upper arm with that of forearm had been split into two pieces. Jobe had planned to harvest a tendon from his healthy hand and replace the broken ULC. An idea that had not b een tried earlier. ]
- “What is the chance of success ?” Asked John.
- “One in hundred.”
- “Let us go for it.” Said the injured Tommy.
( No one had tried this procedure till 1974. Today, this procedure had 92% success rate.)
So on July 17, 1974, Dr Jobe took a tendon from the forearm of Tommy John’s healthy right hand and grafted it in his injured left elbow for the first time in the history of sports world. Such a procedure had never been attempted before. It was a three hour surgery followed by a year and half of rest and rehabilitation.
On April 16, 1976, Tommy John returned to field and pitched a ball once again for the LA Dodgers. He went on to play another 13 years winning 164 games. That was extra ordinary. Tommy had won 124 games before his injury. He went on to win more matches after his reconstructive surgery and continued to throw balls till he was 46. That was astonishing. It put the Sports surgery in the limelight.
A new era had dawned.
Sports Medicine (SEM) Surgeons were created.
[Tommy John is one of the best left-handed pitchers of all time In the history of base ball game. But he was brave enough to opt for a surgery that had never been tried before. Importantly, he continued to play for 13 years after such a surgery. He threw balls in his reconstructed arm till the ripe age of 46 which is longer than most of the healthy base ball players. ]
This was the best advertisement for the ligament reconstructive procedures.
Dr Ramakanta's Ideas 