Fracture of the radial head

The patient was a 22-year-old man who was currently serving in a military special operations training program. He was referred to a physical therapist for a chief complaint of left elbow pain that currently prevented him from performing routine upper extremity exercise activities. Due to the traumatic nature of the patient's injury, inability to fully extend his elbow, and palpation findings, there was concern for a radial head fracture. Therefore, the physical therapist ordered radiographs of the left elbow, which revealed an intra-articular fracture involving the radial head that extended through the neck of the radius.