Arthroscopic treatment of shoulder instability in professional athletes

Background: Post-traumatic shoulder instability is a common disease, especially in sportsmen. If inadequately or late treated, it may be responsible for an articular biomechanics alteration, with serious problems. This is much more obvious for professionals athletes, because corporate and market needs force them to a premature return to sport. The purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate if arthroscopic approach may be better than the open one and allowing a shoulder function rapid recovery, with fast return to sport. Materials and methods: From January 2003 to January 2014, 46 professional athletes underwent surgical treatment for post traumatic shoulder instability. Two groups were made: 25 athletes treated arthroscopically and 21 treated with open approach. Patients were followed up from 36 to 92 months, according to Rowe Score for Instability and VAS scoring system. Results: Patients in the open group returned later than the first one to sport. Moreover, pain in postoperative period and during rehabilitation, was lower in the arthroscopic group. There was only one recurrence in the open group. Conclusions: Arthroscopic surgical approach appears to be excellent in shoulder instability management, reducing recovery time, allowing a faster return to sport, with less pain, if compared with open surgery.