Our last poster is titled Outcomes and Return to Sport Following Arthroscopic Bankart Repair for Anterior Shoulder Instability in Contact versus Non-contact Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.  We’ve spoken a lot about the surgical treatment for anterior shoulder instability on this podcast – most recently with Dr. Brian Lau.  That is episode #48 and 49 if you want to check it out.

This study focused on outcomes of arthroscopic Bankart repair for the treatment of anterior shoulder instability, specifically comparing outcomes in contact athletes versus noncontact athletes.  This systematic review included 18 studies with 1-year minimum follow-up.

The authors found that contact and noncontact athletes had similar rates of return to sport as well as similar rates of return to preinjury level of play.  However, they also found that contact athletes demonstrated significantly greater rates of recurrent instability, at 28% compared to 8% in noncontact athletes.  Contact athletes also demonstrated significantly greater need for revision surgery, at 12% compared to 3% in noncontact athletes.