[Instability of the shoulder joint in the athlete]

In all shoulder instabilities it is very important to classify the type of instability precisely in order to choose the right form of therapy and predict the results. The acronyms TUBS, which means traumatic instability, unidirectional, Bankart lesion, and good response to surgery, and AMBRI, which means atraumatic aetiology, multidirectional, and good for rehabilitation, represent the complete range of possible instabilities. We discuss the subtypes in the differentiation of various instabilities and the different causes and pathologies for instability, the clinical and radiological tests possible, and the different surgical treatment options, as well as the results in the literature. A modification of the Bankart procedure and the arthroscopic Caspari capsulorrhaphy procedure for traumatic instabilities are described. The capsular T-shift by Neer and Foster is explained as a surgical treatment for multidirectional instability.