We reviewed the results of the arthroscopic staple capsulorrhaphy on 47 patients with a followup of 4 years. Thirty-four of the 47 shoulders had a history of traumatic dislocation, while the remaining 13 had a history of subluxation. The recurrence rate was 25%, with 8 shoulders developing recurrent frank dislocation and 4 developing subluxation. Only 21 of the 47 patients were able to resume normal sporting activities after surgical repair. We had no cases of staple loosening within the joint, but we did have 3 patients whose staples were removed because of persistent pain in the shoulder.