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.