Return to sports after the latarjet procedure: high return level of non-collision athletes

The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes, including the level of return to sport, of collision and non-collision athletes who had the Latarjet procedure.

A total of 56 shoulders of 29 collision and 27 non-collision athletes were retrospectively analyzed. All study participants underwent the Latarjet procedure between 2007 and 2014. Median age at the time of surgery was 26.5 years(18-43) and follow-up duration was 67.0 months(24-113).

At the final follow-up, 54 (96.4%) patients returned to sports. Nine patients (16.1%) returned to the same level of sports. In a group of collision athletes, 1 patient (3.4%) returned to the same level, 16 (55.2%) returned to lower level, 10 (34.5%) changed sports, and 2 (6.9%) quit sports. In a group of noncollision athletes, 8 (29.6%) returned to same level, 11 (40.7%) returned at a lower level and 8 (29.6%) changed sports. The level of return to sports in collision group was statistically different from that in noncollision group (p = 0.046). The mean VAS, Rowe and UCLA scores improved significantly in both groups (p < 0.001) with no statistically significant difference between both groups.

Although the clinical outcomes were not significantly different between collision and non-collision athletes, the level of return to sports was significantly higher in the non-collision group than in the collision group. The result suggests that the level of physical demand according to sport type is an important prognostic factor which predicts the level of return to sport after the Lartarjet procedure in athletes.

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