Successful Outcomes and Return to Sport After Arthroscopic Bankart Repair in National Collegiate Athletic Association and National Football League Football Players

Objective: To characterize recurrent instability, return to sport (RTS), and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) after arthroscopic Bankart repair for acute traumatic anterior shoulder instability in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and National Football League (NFL) football players.

Design: Case series.

Setting: Orthopaedic and sports medicine clinic.

Participants: National Collegiate Athletic Association and NFL football athletes with traumatic anterior shoulder instability who underwent arthroscopic shoulder stabilization at a single institution with at least 2-year follow-up.

Interventions or assessment of risk factors or independent variables: Arthroscopic Bankart repair.

Main outcome measures: Recurrent instability, RTS, patient satisfaction, the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, and Rowe score.

Results: Thirty-three players were included with a mean age of 23.8 years (range, 18-33 years) and a mean follow-up of 6.3 years (range, 4.1-9.3 years). One shoulder (3.0%) had a postoperative subluxation event, and 1 shoulder (3.0%) required revision surgery for issues other than instability; 93.3% of players were able to RTS at the same level or higher for at least 1 season. Mean satisfaction was 8.9 ± 2.3. Mean VAS was 1.0 ± 1.7, and mean ASES and Rowe scores were 90.7 ± 18.5 and 89.7 ± 15.2, respectively.

Conclusion: Arthroscopic Bankart repair is an effective surgical intervention for traumatic anterior shoulder instability in NCAA and NFL football players. At a mean 6-year follow-up, surgery restored stability in 97% of cases and 93.3% returned to their preinjury level of sport.