Posterior shoulder instability is rare and often missed, and surgical return-to-sport rates reported in the literature range widely from 38% to 100%. This systematic review and meta-analysis of proportions pooled 32 studies to define return-to-sport rates after surgical stabilization. It reports overall return, return to preinjury level, and rates by procedure type and athlete subgroup.
When you counsel an athlete before posterior stabilization, separate two numbers: getting back on the field (about 88%) and getting back to their old level (about 68%). Most patients hear "return to sport" as the second, so set that expectation explicitly.
The sport and position matter more than the raw pooled rate. Contact athletes and football linemen do well (94%), and linemen may actually benefit most from surgery despite their high-risk mechanism. Baseball pitchers do worst, returning to preinjury level only 41%-50% of the time.
For technique, favor suture anchors in arthroscopic capsulolabral repair, since repairs without anchors failed at least twice as often in most studies. Weigh this evidence carefully: there were no randomized trials and 81% of studies were level 4 case series, so these pooled rates guide counseling but do not settle procedure choice.
Posterior shoulder instability is rare and often missed, and surgical return-to-sport rates reported in the literature range widely from 38% to 100%. This systematic review and meta-analysis of proportions pooled 32 studies to define return-to-sport rates after surgical stabilization. It reports overall return, return to preinjury level, and rates by procedure type and athlete subgroup.
When you counsel an athlete before posterior stabilization, separate two numbers: getting back on the field (about 88%) and getting back to their old level (about 68%). Most patients hear "return to sport" as the second, so set that expectation explicitly.
The sport and position matter more than the raw pooled rate. Contact athletes and football linemen do well (94%), and linemen may actually benefit most from surgery despite their high-risk mechanism. Baseball pitchers do worst, returning to preinjury level only 41%-50% of the time.
For technique, favor suture anchors in arthroscopic capsulolabral repair, since repairs without anchors failed at least twice as often in most studies. Weigh this evidence carefully: there were no randomized trials and 81% of studies were level 4 case series, so these pooled rates guide counseling but do not settle procedure choice.