After one of the following occurs:

1) the elbow dislocates and is put back in place

2)  the person has an acute (one-time, and very specific trauma) injury of the MCL

3) the person undergoes surgery to have the MCL surgically repaired

The person is immediately seen and placed in a locked-elbow-immobilizer with the elbow/arm at 90 degrees, but allowing full flexion. The elbow is kept at 90 degrees for 2 weeks.

After 2 weeks the elbow range-of-motion is checked. If the elbow is stiff and doesn’t move much then the range-of-motion is increased. If the elbow is loose and moves a lot then the brace is kept at 90 degrees. This happens every week until the 6 week mark. At this point the brace is removed and elbow strengthening begins, which consists of a light weight, high repetition strengthening program.

Surgery after an elbow dislocation is usually not needed if the above program is followed. If it is not followed then the elbow will either become too stiff or too loose depending on what was done. If a well thought out program such as this is not followed then surgery is usually needed.