A retrospective survey of fifty shoulders in thirty-five patients with
recurrent posterior instability revealed generally poor results of
treatment, particularly of operative treatment. Only eleven of the
shoulders had a primary traumatic insult as the event initiating the
instability. Although forty-one of the affected shoulders demonstrated
voluntary instability, it was the associated involuntary, unintentional
instability of these shoulders that prompted the patients to seek medical
attention. Pain and functional impairment relating to work and to the
activities of daily living were not significant in most of these patients.
The results of surgical reconstruction were generally poor, the recurrence
rate was 50 per cent (thirteen of twenty-six shoulders), and there were
complications in five of the twenty-six shoulders that had been operated
on. Attention is drawn to the complication of degenerative osteoarthritis
that is associated with posterior glenoid osteotomy. We advise care in the
selection of patients for surgical reconstruction.