Nonarthroplasty Treatment Options for Management of Primary Elbow Osteoarthritis

Primary elbow osteoarthritis is a functionally limiting condition, predominantly affecting middle-aged men engaged in repetitive manual labor, and is characterized by pain, stiffness, and mechanical symptoms. Evaluation involves a detailed history focusing on pain, loss of motion, and mechanical symptoms, followed by clinical examination for range of motion deficits, crepitus, and instability. Radiographic assessment, including standard radiographs and, when indicated, computed tomography imaging, is essential for staging disease severity, identifying osteophytes, capsular contracture, and joint space narrowing. Initial management is nonsurgical, emphasizing activity modification, NSAIDs, physical therapy, and intra-articular corticosteroid injections. When conservative measures fail, surgical options include arthroscopic or open débridement, osteocapsular arthroplasty, and procedures such as the Outerbridge-Kashiwagi technique. Both arthroscopic and open approaches reliably improve pain, range of motion, and functional scores, with low complication rates. However, open procedures may yield greater flexion gains in select cases. Nonarthroplasty options for primary elbow arthritis encompass a spectrum from conservative management to arthroscopic and open surgical débridement, with treatment tailored to disease severity, patient age, and functional demands.