Descriptive analysis of patients undergoing shoulder surgery at a tertiary care military medical center

Shoulder pain is a common musculoskeletal complaint. Patients with shoulder pain who are seeking care in a military tertiary setting in the United States have not been previously described. This study describes the clinical features of 55 patients (47 men, 8 women) undergoing shoulder surgery at a tertiary care military medical center. Patients presenting to a military medical center are different than other previously described samples in the literature. Specifically, the patients in this study had a known mechanism of injury (n = 42; 76%), multiple structures involved (n = 46; 84%) and a high prevalence of glenoid labral involvement (n = 44; 80%). Further research is needed to determine if these patient characteristics identified in this study warrant different management strategies and resource utilization in both the tertiary care center, and in the primary care center where these patients are typically seen before referral to a tertiary care center.