Shoulder Instability

Dislocation or instability of the shoulder is a common injury that occurs in athletes and results in significant pain and disability. The Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Research team works to identify optimal surgical and nonsurgical treatment strategies to help overcome shoulder instability and get athletes back to doing the activities they love.

Faculty members collaborating on research related to treatment of shoulder instability include:

• Christopher L. Camp, M.D.
• Aaron J. Krych, M.D.
• Shawn W. O'Driscoll, M.D., Ph.D.

Research highlights

Review a complete list of publications on shoulder instability by Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine researchers. Here are the highlights:

• Incidence of posterior shoulder instability has been stable over the last 22 years, but surgical intervention with new technologies has increased.

  Woodmass JM, Lee J, Wu IT, Desai VS, Camp CL, Dahm DL, Krych AJ. Incidence of posterior shoulder instability and trends in surgical reconstruction: A 22-year population-based study. Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery. 2019;28:611.

• When treating shoulder instability with concomitant bone loss, an arthroscopic remplissage technique is an adjunct to labral repair. This technique results in outcomes similar to those of open procedures in the presence of an engaging Hill Sachs defect with minimal glenoid bone loss.

  Camp CL, Dahm DL, Krych AJ. Arthroscopic remplissage for engaging Hill-Sachs lesions in patients with anterior shoulder instability. Arthroscopy Techniques. 2015;4:e499.

• Evaluation of a cohort of patients treated for shoulder instability and chondral injury determines that the presence of the cartilage lesion did not significantly affect the clinical outcome of stabilization at a minimum follow-up of nine years.

  Krych AJ, Sousa PL, King AH, Morgan JA, May JH, Dahm DL. The effect of cartilage injury after arthroscopic stabilization for shoulder instability. Orthopedics. 2015;38:e965.

• Athletes 18 years or younger were treated effectively with arthroscopic posterior capsulolabral reconstruction as opposed to anterior arthroscopic reconstruction, and outcomes improved in contact athletes, males and those with traumatic origins to their instability.

  Wooten CJ, Krych AJ, Schleck CD, Hudgens JL, May JH, Dahm DL. Arthroscopic capsulolabral reconstruction for posterior shoulder instability in patients 18 years old or younger. Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics. 2015;35:462.

• Thorough review of anterior shoulder instability including the anatomy, natural history, indications for surgical management for arthroscopic and open techniques.

  Streubel PN, Krych AJ, Simone JP, Dahm DL, Sperling JW, Steinmann SP, O'Driscoll SW, Sanchez-Sotelo J. Anterior glenohumeral instability: A pathology-based surgical treatment strategy. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. 2014;22:283.