title: Congenital Ulnar Drift in a Surgeon.
abstract: Windblown hand is a term used in many instances to describe ulnar deviations of the fingers with or without other malformations. In 1994 Wood reviewed all of the descriptions of cases of windblown hand and pointed out how many variants of congenital ulnar drift there are, suggesting that the many variations seen may all belong to a larger type of arthrogryposis. While the most common cause of ulnar deviation of the fingers is rheumatoid arthritis, it can also be caused by other conditions such as windblown hand or Jaccoud's arthropathy. While most hand surgeons are familiar with presentations of congenital ulnar drift, few of them are knowledgeable about Jaccoud's arthropathy as this is usually discussed within medical communities such as Rheumatology. We present a case of a surgeon who has had noticeable ulnar deviation of the digits at the level of the metacarpophalangeal joint since his early 20s. We propose that the current case is a demonstration of a type of windblown hand that has some hereditary component but is not immediately obvious at birth and presents physically more like Jaccoud's arthropathy than traditional windblown hand.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Texas Tech University, 3601 4th Street, Mail Stop 9436, Lubbock, TX 79430-9436, USA.
authors.forename: Desirae
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McKee
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Texas Tech University, 3601 4th Street, Mail Stop 9436, Lubbock, TX 79430-9436, USA.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eliasson
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Texas Tech University, 3601 4th Street, Mail Stop 9436, Lubbock, TX 79430-9436, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Griswold