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Long-delayed elbow surgery goes well  

PUEBLO, Colo. (November 12, 2009) - Just three days after winning the world title, Kody Lostroh underwent surgery to repair his injured left riding elbow.

“It all went good,” he wrote in text message Thursday afternoon. “I’ll be back in January.”

He also said the doctor “took out bone chips, tightened up the lateral ligament and repaired some muscle tissue.”

The World Champion has been dealing with the injury since Omaha, Neb., when he hyper-extended his arm, which in turn tore a tendon on the outside portion of the elbow. Another older injury was also discovered a few days later.

He missed only one event in Worcester, Mass., thought briefly about switching riding hands, wore a brace to one event and then benefitted from a two-month long break in the Built Ford Tough Series.

At the time, Lostroh felt a sense of urgency to compete when both Guilherme Marchi and J.B. Mauney made substantial gains on his lead in the world standings.

Lostroh is hoping that he will not have undergo any further surgeries.

“We didn’t fix the medial ligament,” Lostroh wrote, “but (the doctor) said that the elbow will tighten up a lot with what we did fix.”

The 2010 season will get underway next weekend in Duluth, Ga., at the Challenger Finals, which will also serve as the first BFTS event of the forthcoming year.

In January, the schedule will start in earnest, with 20 events  between the beginning of January and mid-May.

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright, PBRNow.com