One hundred and forty shoulders in 115 patients that had a diagnosis of
traumatic or atraumatic recurrent anterior, posterior, or multidirectional
subluxation were treated with a specific set of muscle-strengthening
exercises. Only twelve (16 per cent) of the seventy-four shoulders
(sixty-eight patients) that had traumatic subluxation had a good or
excellent result from the exercises, compared with fifty-three (80 per
cent) of the sixty-six shoulders that had atraumatic subluxation. For this
reason, each patient who has instability of the shoulder should be
thoroughly evaluated if a successful result from conservative treatment is
to be expected. Every effort must be made to identify the etiology of the
instability through careful history-taking, physical examination, and
radiographic evaluation.