Elbow surgery for osteo-arthritis

[pxides]

Has anyone experienced or heard of elbow surgery for osteo-arthritis where the remedy is to shave off part of the radius head? It involves cutting off about 3/4 of an inch of the radius bone as it comes up to the elbow joint. That keeps the radius from grinding against the humerus (arm bone). That leaves the ulna bone to take all the burden of the elbow joint against the humerus.

This procedure was done to me by a doctor without prior open consultation with me and I am very upset. I went in for a standard arthroscopic surgery to clean up an arthritic elbow and I came out with essentially minus one bone supporting the elbow joint. It has been 8 months and I am not able to hit a single ball with the affected arm. I am a 5.0 player and I cannot see myself being able to reach that level of tennis starting over with my other arm.

Has anyone heard of this surgical procedure and whether it has improved one's chances of using one's arm for tennis or any other sports?

Desperate as you can tell, I remain...

 

[Voltron]

Now sue his ass and buy a robotic arm. Give it some time, and talk to a doctor to see what you can do, plus do strength training.

 

[ollinger]

Why don't you get a copy of the consent you signed and post it here....it's hard to believe a chunk of your radius was removed and you didn't authorize it. Consents are typically worded to allow the surgeon some leeway in doing what he feels is appropriate once he's in there. How was the radius reattached with 3/4 inch of it missing?

 

[pxides]

Answering to Ollinger, the radius is not attached anywhere in the elbow region any longer. The space created is filled with scar tissue on its own. What keeps the radius from moving randomly are ligaments that extend along the length of the ulna perpendicularly and wrap around the radius. Think of these ligaments as the steps of a step-ladder. That offers moderate stability, but not enough to play sports, at least not yet in my experience...