A detailed computer-assisted evaluation of eighty-nine patients whose
shoulders were surgically treated for anterior instability was done. Three
types of anterior instability of the shoulder were identified: Type I,
subluxation without prior dislocation; Type II, recurrent dislocation with
interval subluxation; and Type III, recurrent dislocation without interval
subluxation. This series included fifty patients with Type-I, twenty-nine
with Type-II, and ten patients with Type-III instability. Selected
variables from the computer analysis of forty-five preoperative and
post-operative parameters were related to the type of instability diagnosed
preoperatively. The surgical procedure used in all shoulders was a
modification of the Bankart procedure. Chronic glenohumeral instability is
a disabling entity which can be controlled by surgical stabilization of the
anterior capsule to the glenoid rim.