Original Research

Arthroscopic Posterior-Inferior Capsular Release in the Treatment of Overhead Athletes

Am J Orthop. 2015 May;44(5):223-227

References

1. Burkhart SS, Morgan CD, Kibler WB. The disabled throwing shoulder: spectrum of pathology part I: pathoanatomy and biomechanics. Arthroscopy. 2003;19(4):404-420.

2. Wilk KE, Macrina LC, Fleisig GS, et al. Correlation of glenohumeral internal rotation deficit and total rotational motion to shoulder injuries in professional baseball pitchers. Am J Sports Med. 2011;39(2):329-335.

3. Bigliani LU, Codd TP, Connor PM, Levine WN, Littlefield MA, Hershon SJ. Shoulder motion and laxity in the professional baseball player. Am J Sports Med. 1997;25(5):609-613.

4. Brown LP, Niehues SL, Harrah A, Yavorsky P, Hirshman HP. Upper extremity range of motion and isokinetic strength of the internal and external shoulder rotators in Major League baseball players. Am J Sports Med. 1988;16(6):577-585.

5. Crockett HC, Gross LB, Wilk KE, et al. Osseous adaptation and range of motion at the glenohumeral joint in professional baseball pitchers. Am J Sports Med. 2002;30(1):20-26.

6. Kibler WB, Chandler TJ, Livingston BP, Roetert EP. Shoulder range of motion in elite tennis players. Effect of age and years of tournament play. Am J Sports Med. 1996;24(3):279-285.

7. Meister K. Injuries to the shoulder in the throwing athlete. Part one: biomechanics/‌pathophysiology/classification of injury. Am J Sports Med. 2000;28(2):265-275.

8. Osbahr DC, Cannon DL, Speer KP. Retroversion of the humerus in the throwing shoulder of college baseball pitchers. Am J Sports Med. 2002;30(3):347-353.

9. Torres RR, Gomes JL. Measurement of glenohumeral internal rotation in asymptomatic tennis players and swimmers. Am J Sports Med. 2009;37(5):1017-1023.

10. Tyler TF, Nicholas SJ, Lee SJ, Mullaney M, McHugh MP. Correction of posterior shoulder tightness is associated with symptom resolution in patients with internal impingement. Am J Sports Med. 2010;28(1):114-119.

11. Wilk KE, Meister K, Andrews JR. Current concepts in the rehabilitation of the overhead throwing athlete. Am J Sports Med. 2002;30(1):136-151.

12. Braun S, Kokmeyer D, Millett PJ. Shoulder injuries in the throwing athlete. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2009;91(4):966-978.

13. Reagan KM, Meister K, Horodyski MB, Werner DW, Carruthers C, Wilk K. Humeral retroversion and its relationship to glenohumeral rotation in the shoulder of college baseball players. Am J Sports Med. 2002;30(3):354-360.

14. Tehranzadeh AD, Fronek J, Resnick D. Posterior capsular fibrosis in professional baseball pitchers: case series of MR arthrographic findings in six patients with glenohumeral internal rotational deficit. Clin Imaging. 2007;31(5):343-348.

15. Michener LA, McClure PW, Sennett BJ. American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Standardized Shoulder Assessment Form, patient self-report section: reliability, validity, and responsiveness. J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2002;11(6):587-594.

16. Curtis AS, Deshmukh R. Throwing injuries: diagnosis and treatment. Arthroscopy. 2003;19(suppl 1):80-85.

17. Lajtai G, Pfirrmann CW, Aitzetmuller G, Pirkl C, Gerber C, Jost B. The shoulders of fully competitive professional beach volleyball players: high prevalence of infraspinatus atrophy. Am J Sports Med. 2009;37(7):1375-1383.

18. Burkhart SS, Morgan CD. The peel-back mechanism: its role in producing and extending posterior type II SLAP lesions and its effect on SLAP repair rehabilitation. Arthroscopy. 1998;14(6):637-640.

19. Dines JS, Frank JB, Akerman M, Yocum LA. Glenohumeral internal rotation deficits in baseball players with ulnar collateral ligament insufficiency. Am J Sports Med. 2009;37(3):566-570.

20. Grossman MG, Tibone JE, McGarry MH, Schneider DJ, Veneziani S, Lee TQ. A cadaveric model of the throwing shoulder: a possible etiology of superior labrum anterior-to-posterior lesions. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2005;87(4):824-831.

21. Myers JB, Laudner KG, Pasquale MR, Bradley JP, Lephart SM. Glenohumeral range of motion deficits and posterior shoulder tightness in throwers with pathologic internal impingement. Am J Sports Med. 2006;34(3):385-391.

22. Ticker JB, Beim GM, Warner JJ. Recognition and treatment of refractory posterior capsular contracture of the shoulder. Arthroscopy. 2000;16(1):27-34.

23. Burkhart SS, Morgan CD, Kibler WB. The disabled throwing shoulder: spectrum of pathology part III: the SICK scapula, scapular dyskinesis, the kinetic chain, and rehabilitation. Arthroscopy. 2003;19(6):641-661.

24. Kibler WB, McMullen J. Scapular dyskinesis and its relation to shoulder pain. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2003;11(2):142-151.

25. Kibler WB. The relationship of glenohumeral internal rotation deficit to shoulder and elbow injuries in tennis players: a prospective evaluation of posterior capsular stretching. Presented at: American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons 15th Annual Closed Meeting; November 6, 1998; New York, NY.

26. Lintner D, Mayol M, Uzodinma O, Jones R, Labossiere D. Glenohumeral internal rotation deficits in professional pitchers enrolled in an internal rotation stretching program. Am J Sports Med. 2007;35(4):617-621.

27. McClure P, Balaicuis J, Heiland D, Broersma ME, Thorndike CK, Wood A. A randomized controlled comparison of stretching procedures for posterior shoulder tightness. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2007;37(3):108-114.

28. Verna C. Shoulder flexibility to reduce impingement. Presented at: 3rd Annual Professional Baseball Athletic Trainer Society Meeting; March 1991; Mesa, AZ.

29. Bach HG, Goldberg BA. Posterior capsular contracture of the shoulder. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2006;14(5):265-277.

30. Yoneda M, Nakagawa S, Mizuno N, et al. Arthroscopic capsular release for painful throwing shoulder with posterior capsular tightness. Arthroscopy. 2006;22(7):801e1-801e5.

31. Kocher MS, Horan MP, Briggs KK, Richardson TR, O’Holleran J, Hawkins RJ. Reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons subjective shoulder scale in patients with shoulder instability, rotator cuff disease, and glenohumeral arthritis. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2005;87(9):2006-2011.

32. Johansen RL, Callis M, Potts J, Shall LM. A modified internal rotation stretching technique for overhand and throwing athletes. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 1995;21(4):216-219.

33. Harryman DT 2nd, Sidles JA, Clark JM, McQuade KJ, Gibb TD, Matsen FA 3rd. Translation of the humeral head on the glenoid with passive glenohumeral motion. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1990;72(9):1334-1343.

34. Tyler TF, Nicholas SJ, Roy T, Gleim GW. Quantification of posterior capsule tightness and motion loss in patients with shoulder impingement. Am J Sports Med. 2000;28(5):668-673.

35. McCarty LP, Buss DD, Giveans MR. Correlation between throwing arm strength deficit and glenohumeral internal rotation deficit in professional baseball pitchers, and differences between Latino and non-Latino pitchers. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting; February 2012; San Francisco, CA.

36. Edwards TB, Bostick RD, Greene CC, Baratta RV, Drez D. Interobserver and intraobserver reliability of the measurement of shoulder internal rotation by vertebral level. J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2002;11(1):40-42.

Burkhart and colleagues²³ concluded that the shoulder most at risk for developing “dead arm” has GIRD and an advanced form of scapular dyskinesia known as SICK scapula (the phenomenon involves Scapula malposition, Inferior medial border prominence, Coracoid pain and malposition, and dysKinesis of scapular movement).

Most athletes with symptoms attributed to GIRD respond to conservative management. A posterior-inferior capsular stretching program focused on regaining internal rotation in the throwing arm has been shown to return about 90% of athletes to play.¹ Numerous studies have indicated that enrollment in a compliant stretching program reduces GIRD.^1,23-27 However, nonoperative treatment fails in a reported 10% of patients with GIRD; these patients may respond to operative treatment.¹

More specifically, for patients who do not respond to conservative treatment, a posterior-inferior capsular release may be indicated.^1,29 Ticker and colleagues²² identified 9 patients who had lost internal rotation and had a posterior capsular contracture at arthroscopy. That study, however, was not performed on overhead or throwing athletes. Yoneda and colleagues³⁰ followed 16 overhead throwing athletes after arthroscopic posterior-inferior capsular release and found favorable preliminary clinical results. Eleven of the 16 patients returned to their preinjury level of performance; the other 5 returned to a lower level. In addition, all 4 patients who underwent isolated arthroscopic capsular release had throwing power restored to between 90% and 100%.

In the present study, 10 of 13 patients who underwent arthroscopic posterior-inferior capsular release returned to their preoperative level of play or a higher level. Mean passive GIRD improved significantly from before surgery to after surgery. ASES scores likewise were significantly improved from before surgery to after surgery. The active internal rotation difference as measured by vertebral segment level was not significantly changed after surgery. This lack of improvement may stem from the more complex musculoligamentous interactions governing active internal rotation versus isolated, passive internal rotation. Another possible explanation for lack of improvement is that the interobserver and intraobserver reliability of this method is lower.³⁶

At 2-year follow-up, the patient who had undergone concomitant SLAP repair demonstrated a 23% improvement in ASES score and more internal rotation on the dominant arm relative to the nondominant arm. This patient returned to a level of play at least as good as his preoperative level. Although we could not determine its statistical significance, this patient’s improvement suggests that the SLAP repair did not reduce the efficacy of the posterior-inferior capsular release.

Limitations of this study include its relatively small cohort (precluded statistical comparisons between groups), the proportion of patients (7/13) who had concomitant surgeries, and the limited options for patient outcome scores. Although the ASES score is a validated outcome score, the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic Shoulder and Elbow (KJOC) score or the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) score may be more appropriate in an athletic population. In addition, although all study patients had GIRD that was unresponsive to a concerted trial of nonoperative management, we did not have a control group (nonoperatively treated patients) for comparison. Finally, we did not obtain computed tomography scans or account for the potential contribution of humeral retroversion to GIRD in this group of patients.

Conclusion

Selective arthroscopic posterior-inferior capsular release can be recommended as a reasonable operative solution for overhead athletes with symptomatic GIRD that has not responded to conservative management. In the present study, ASES scores improved significantly, and 77% of our athlete-patients returned to sport at their preoperative level of play or a higher level.