This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Young military athletes with prior glenohumeral joint instability 5 times more likely to have reinjury
Young athletes with a prior history of glenohumeral joint instability were 5 times more likely to have future instability injuries, according to results of this study.
Researchers conducted a prospective study of young athletes with prior history of glenohumeral joint instability at the U.S. Military Academy. They followed patients for any subsequent glenohumeral instability for a 4-year period. Outcome measures were time to subsequent instability, anterior or posterior instability. The researchers excluded 8 shoulders of the 714 patients studied. They noted 126 patients had prior shoulder instability, and 46 patients had subsequent instability injuries.
“Despite meeting the rigorous physical induction standards for military service, subjects with a prior history of glenohumeral joint instability were approximately five times more likely to experience a subsequent instability event, regardless of direction, within this high-risk athletic population,” Kenneth L. Cameron, PhD, MPH, ATC, and colleagues wrote in the abstract.
Patients with a prior history of instability were also 5.6 times more likely to sustain an anterior instability injury and 4.6 times more likely to have a posterior instability injury. The researchers found similar results after multivariable models that controlled for demographic and baseline physical examination findings.
Disclosure: This study was funded in part by a grant from the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation.