Shoulder Labral Repair

Shoulder labral tears are repaired arthroscopically during an outpatient procedure. Three or four small incisions are made around the shoulder and the labrum is either cleaned out and the torn portion is removed or repaired back to the bone using small suture anchors. Small labral tears that do not detach from the bone can be treated with debridement (removal) to clean up the torn portion. Detached labral tears require anchoring to the bone.

Small holes are punched in the bone to allow non-metallic suture anchors to insert into the bone and tie the labrum down. Over a four to six week period, the labrum will heal back down to the bone.
The size of the tear will determine how many anchors are needed for proper fixation. Patients will shoulder instability, often have large labral tears that need multiple anchors. Recovery after labral repair includes sling immobilization for four to six weeks to allow the labrum to heal back down to bone.  This is followed by three to four months of physical therapy to regain motion and strength.  Most patient are pain free and are able to return to all of their pre-injury activities such as golfing, weightlifting, baseball, football, tennis, and basketball.