6-8 Weeks: Perspectives on Sports Medicine
Aug 20, 2026 · 23 min · 10 segments
Overview: A tribute episode responding to news that Tommy John passed away, using his life and eponymous surgery as a jumping-off point to discuss the history and evolution of UCL reconstruction…
Drew LansdownHost
Nirav PandyaHost
Welcome everyone to our Sports Medicine podcast, six to eight weeks for Texas on Sports Medicine with myself, Dr. Nirav Pandya, Dr. Brian Feeley, and Dr.
And I think one of the important things from an orthopedic perspective that a lot of us kind of automatically associate with the surgery is the Tommy John surgery.
And for those of you who don't know, Tommy John is not necessarily relation to the procedure itself, but name of this pitcher, Tommy John, who was the first person to get this procedure done on him.
He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, signed with the Cleveland Indians at age 18.
Um, the angels, the A's and the Yankees, what was known as the Indians at that time.
Um, he has a four time all-star 288 career wins over 2000 strikeouts in the three 34 era.
Um, and I think what's remarkable, which we'll talk about, um, in this podcast is that 1974, he suffered a UCL tear.
so the ulnar collateral ligament it's the ligament on the inside the medial side of the elbow connects the humerus to the ulna and then whenever you're throwing with the hand like going behind your shoulder you're putting a valgus force on the elbow but basically you're stressing that ligament every time and if it the elbow is unstable you go in that position and then the elbow can either gap open it can stretch that can be painful or it can just be that the pitcher can't control the ball can't you know place the ball or loses velocity because they can't push it as hard um So that ligament is needed because you're stressing that part of the joint every time.
You can do a lot of other things, but the throwing motion just becomes extremely challenging and just not possible to do at that high level.
Welcome everyone to our Sports Medicine podcast, six to eight weeks for Texas on Sports Medicine with myself, Dr. Nirav Pandya, Dr. Brian Feeley, and Dr.
And I think one of the important things from an orthopedic perspective that a lot of us kind of automatically associate with the surgery is the Tommy John surgery.
And for those of you who don't know, Tommy John is not necessarily relation to the procedure itself, but name of this pitcher, Tommy John, who was the first person to get this procedure done on him.
He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, signed with the Cleveland Indians at age 18.
Um, the angels, the A's and the Yankees, what was known as the Indians at that time.
Um, he has a four time all-star 288 career wins over 2000 strikeouts in the three 34 era.
Um, and I think what's remarkable, which we'll talk about, um, in this podcast is that 1974, he suffered a UCL tear.
so the ulnar collateral ligament it's the ligament on the inside the medial side of the elbow connects the humerus to the ulna and then whenever you're throwing with the hand like going behind your shoulder you're putting a valgus force on the elbow but basically you're stressing that ligament every time and if it the elbow is unstable you go in that position and then the elbow can either gap open it can stretch that can be painful or it can just be that the pitcher can't control the ball can't you know place the ball or loses velocity because they can't push it as hard um So that ligament is needed because you're stressing that part of the joint every time.
You can do a lot of other things, but the throwing motion just becomes extremely challenging and just not possible to do at that high level.
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