Inferior capsular shift for involuntary inferior and multidirectional instability of the shoulder. A preliminary report.

In thirty-six patients (forty shoulders) with involuntary inferior and multidirectional subluxation and dislocation, there had been failure of standard operations or uncertainty regarding diagnosis or treatment. Clinical evaluation of these patients stressed meticulous psychiatric appraisal, conservative treatment, and repeated examination of the shoulder. All patients were treated by an inferior capsular shift, a procedure in which a flap of the capsule reinforced by overlying tendon is shifted to reduce capsular and ligamentous redundancy on all three sides. This technique offers the advantage of correcting multidirectional instability through one incision without damage to the articular surface. One shoulder began subluxating again within seven months after operation, but there have been no other unsatisfactory results to date. Seventeen shoulders were followed for more than two years.