Clinical outcomes of Gaelic Athletic Association athletes after surgical stabilization in the setting of anterior shoulder instability

BACKGROUND: Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) games are collision sports played at an amateur level, which represent the most popular sports played on the island of Ireland. Each year, many GAA players in Ireland require surgical stabilization with either arthroscopic Bankart repair (ABR) or open Latarjet (OL) procedures in the setting of anterior shoulder instability. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes, recurrence, and return to play (RTP) in athletes who play GAA games having undergone surgical stabilization with either ABR or OL procedures in the setting of anterior shoulder instability. METHODS: A retrospective review of all patients with anterior shoulder instability whom had stabilization with either ABR or OL under a single surgeon between 2012 and 2018 was performed. Patients who were athletes partaking in GAA sports were followed up by chart review and telephone survey to assess their clinical outcomes including satisfaction, pain as measured on the visual analog scale score, the Subjective Shoulder Value, recurrence, complications, and revision surgeries. In addition, RTP rates, time to RTP, level of RTP, and Shoulder Instability–Return to Sport after Injury scores were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 200 GAA athletes (194 males) with a mean age of 23.9 ± 6.1 years with mean follow-up of 50.4 ± 24 months were included in this study. A total of 98.1% patients were satisfied with their procedure at the latest follow-up, with an overall recurrence rate of 5%. A total of 6.5% of athletes required revision surgery, of whom 4% required revision stabilization (all of whom had recurrence). The overall rate of RTP was 88% at mean 6.0 ± 1.7 months postoperatively, with 75% of athletes returning at the same or higher levels than their preinjury level. There were no significant differences for all outcome measures analyzed between patients who had ABR or OL procedures. CONCLUSION: GAA athletes with anterior shoulder instability treated with either ABR or OL procedures report excellent clinical outcomes at medium-term follow-up, with high satisfaction rates, excellent functional outcomes, and high rates of RTP. Furthermore, this cohort demonstrates low rates of recurrence after stabilization with few requiring revision surgery.