This retrospective case series examines arthroscopic anterior shoulder stabilization in 18 athletes under age 20 participating in collision (football) or contact (wrestling, soccer) sports. It asks whether high-demand collision athletics should be considered a contraindication to arthroscopic repair.
The conventional wisdom entering the 2000s was that collision athletics represented a relative contraindication to arthroscopic Bankart repair, with open stabilization favored for high-demand athletes. This paper directly challenged that assumption.
When a football player under age 20 presents with recurrent anterior instability, arthroscopic repair is a viable first-line option — provided your technique is complete. That means nonabsorbable sutures, a proper capsulolabral bumper, inferior pouch plication to eliminate the drive-through sign, and rotator interval closure if anterior translation persists after plication.
Before operating, screen for an inverted-pear glenoid on MRI or CT. A patient with significant anterior glenoid bone loss is the one who will fail soft-tissue repair alone. That is where the Latarjet or bone augmentation conversation begins.
Thermal capsulorrhaphy as a standalone adjunct has since been abandoned; suture plication is the standard. The 5-o'clock portal placement described here remains a core technical reference for accessing the inferior capsulolabral complex.
This retrospective case series examines arthroscopic anterior shoulder stabilization in 18 athletes under age 20 participating in collision (football) or contact (wrestling, soccer) sports. It asks whether high-demand collision athletics should be considered a contraindication to arthroscopic repair.
The conventional wisdom entering the 2000s was that collision athletics represented a relative contraindication to arthroscopic Bankart repair, with open stabilization favored for high-demand athletes. This paper directly challenged that assumption.
When a football player under age 20 presents with recurrent anterior instability, arthroscopic repair is a viable first-line option — provided your technique is complete. That means nonabsorbable sutures, a proper capsulolabral bumper, inferior pouch plication to eliminate the drive-through sign, and rotator interval closure if anterior translation persists after plication.
Before operating, screen for an inverted-pear glenoid on MRI or CT. A patient with significant anterior glenoid bone loss is the one who will fail soft-tissue repair alone. That is where the Latarjet or bone augmentation conversation begins.
Thermal capsulorrhaphy as a standalone adjunct has since been abandoned; suture plication is the standard. The 5-o'clock portal placement described here remains a core technical reference for accessing the inferior capsulolabral complex.