Elbow pain can be tricky sometimes, when symptoms don’t seem to match up, we can start thinking/looking for structural variations which might not be there in every patient.
Like this article identifying a meniscus in the elbow causing snapping pain. For the outlier elbow pain patients with a snapping or catching pattern, it’s possible we could be have a mensicus much like the knee, that whole one bone on top two below hinge type structure thing.
Here we have a FFFT (Full Free Freaking Text) article on elbow synovial fold issues. These anatomical structures may be massively underappreciated. The article notes they may be acting as a space filler and have a rich innervation. When elbow treatment responded well to end range loading and manual therapy, such as McKenzie type evaluation, this is the type of structure that might be affected. Variation in synovial folds could be missed on MRI, so even with a negative study, you could have a treatment response which looks like you’re fixing some joint pathology although the imaging was read as normal. Biggest clinical correlation would be the lateral forces from Mulligan or McKenzie joint loading, you need that extra force in the right planes of motion, most likely with overpressure, to get the tissue to respond
Another nice link that goes a little more in depth. Nice example of lateral synovial fold below.
Thanks for Reading
Pete
