Sports-related shoulder dislocations: a state-hospital experience

This retrospective study was conducted in a state hospital set-up and aimed at identifying the incidence of sports-related shoulder dislocations and their characteristics and the sports events involved. All patients with shoulder dislocation related to sporting activities admitted to the hospital from January 1999 to December 2002 were included in the study. There were 18 sports-related shoulder dislocations out of 106 all shoulder dislocations admitted during this 4-year period. The average age of the patients was 25.4 years. All but two were male. All were anterior dislocations. Recurrent dislocation constitutes 78% of the cases with an average of 3 times re-dislocation. Rugby and badminton were the major contributors to the injuries followed by volleyball, soccer and swimming. Conservative treatment was successfully instituted for 88% of the patients and 12% opted for surgical intervention.