Swimmers' painful shoulder arthroscopic findings and return rate to sports

Shoulder pain is the most common musculo-skeletal complaint in competitive swimmers. It remains one of the shoulder pain syndromes in overhead athletes where no golden standard of treatment exists. Eighteen competitive swimmers who all had undergone shoulder arthroscopy for therapy-resistant shoulder pain were retrospectively evaluated with respect to operative findings and ability to return to their sport after the operation. The most common finding at arthroscopy was labral pathology in 11 (61%) and subacromial impingement in five shoulders (28%). Operative procedures included debridement in 11 swimmers, partial release of the coraco-acromial ligament in four, and bursectomy in four. Sixteen (89%) responded to the follow-up evaluation. Nine swimmers (56%) were able to compete at preinjury level after 4 (2-9) months. Findings at arthroscopy suggest that the term "Swimmer's shoulder" covers a variety of pathologies including labral wearing and subacromial impingement. Arthroscopic debridement of labral tears or bursectomy in swimmers with shoulder pain has a low success rate with regard to return to sport. Further understanding and investigation of this syndromes complex pathophysiology is needed.