Editorial Commentary: Evidence to Support Surgical Intervention for First-Time Shoulder Instability: Stabilize Them Early

Historically, a primary anterior instability event has been treated nonoperatively. In the literature, a multitude of outcome scores and definitions for recurrence of instability complicates the interpretation and synthesis of evidence-based recommendations. However, there is an emerging body of high-quality evidence that early surgical stabilization yields better overall outcomes. A wait-and-see approach would be acceptable if it was without detrimental effects, but there is a cost to recurrence of instability events, such as more extensive soft-tissue, cartilage, and bony lesions. Young age, male sex, and contact sport participation have been identified as risk factors for recurrence of anterior shoulder instability, and today, these patients are routinely recommended surgical treatment. It is also paramount to identify concomitant injury following the primary anterior instability event. The sensitivity, specificity, and reliability of radiographs is suboptimal, and the threshold to obtain advanced imaging such as computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging with 3-dimensional reconstructions should be low. Taking into account the low non-recurrence complication rate following arthroscopic stabilization, early surgical intervention should be considered following the first instability event.