SLAP repairs in professional baseball players #MLB #Seattle #Health

David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

With the MLB season now in full swing, many of our favorite baseball players continue to recovery from shoulder surgery.  A recent study looked at the outcomes of professional baseball players after a biceps tenodesis for a SLAP tear.  

A SLAP tear (Superior Labrum Anterior Posterior) is the tear of the superior aspect of the labrum in the shoulder.  The labrum is like an O-ring around the shoulder socket (glenoid) that increases stability.   You can read more about labral tears here.  The biceps tenodesis is a procedure that can be used to take the pressure off of the torn superior labrum.

Peter Chalmers, M.D.

Overall, only 35% of professional baseball players were able to return to play after a biceps tenodesis.   Pitchers were only able to return to play at a 16% rate and position players at 80%.  The take home message from Dr. Peter Chalmers, the lead investigator, was "..in professional baseball pitchers who undergo biceps tenodesis, return to play is unpredictable."

This study shows that dealing with SLAP tears in professional throwers continues to be big challenge for shoulder specialists.  We will continue to investigate novel treatment options to improve our patient's outcomes.