Edgy MD wrote: I'm not sure why a second Tommy John surgery should be considered a risk for loss of arm function later in life. Is Jeremy Hefner or somebody walking around with an unresponsive limb? I think I read that they would be attaching the ligament to a part of the shoulder that may not be as strong due the earlier surgery. They would be drilling the new hole very close to the old hole and the tissue may not have matured. From that, I infer that this may make the new ligament not as stable or secure and be prone to injury with less stress later in life. Can any of the doctors here confirm that? Later UCL surgery stays in the vicinity of the elbow, and not the shoulder. What's attached isn't ligament tissue, but tendon tissue harvested from other parts of the body — usually the hip or the knee — to replace the damaged ligament. I have no doubt the surgery can fail. It's happened often enough, and the second surgery is more prone to failure. What I'm asking is why ashie would think the result of that failure would be, beyond the end of a pitching career, actual loss of arm function. Is there any evidence or history to suggest this?