Postoperative Pain and Paresthesia in Labral Repairs of the Shoulder: Location Does Matter.

Background: Favorable outcomes have been reported regarding postoperative shoulder pain and function after repair of anteroinferior (Bankart) glenohumeral labral tears. However, the outcomes of patients after repair of isolated superior labral anterior-posterior (SLAP) tears are a contentious topic. The authors have also anecdotally noted that patients evaluated with labral tears complained of numbness and tingling in their ipsilateral hand. Purpose: To determine if there is a difference in the temporal outcomes of shoulder pain and hand paresthesia in patients with SLAP tears versus Bankart tears after arthroscopic repair. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Included were 66 consecutive patients who underwent arthroscopic labral repair at a single institution between August 2018 and February 2021. The prevalence and magnitude of shoulder pain as well as numbness and tingling of the hand were assessed using questions from the L'Insalata Shoulder Questionnaire and the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire preoperatively and at 1 week, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 6 months after surgery. Results: Preoperatively, patients with SLAP lesions reported a higher prevalence of shoulder pain during sleep compared with those with Bankart tears ( Conclusion: Study results indicated that patients who underwent SLAP repair experienced worse shoulder pain outcomes compared with those who underwent Bankart repair using the same anchor and surgical technique. Only patients who underwent Bankart repair reported improvements in their hand numbness after surgery. Therefore, labral tear location does matter with respect to shoulder pain and hand numbness.