How Long Do Gymnasts Take to Recover from Shoulder Surgery?

Many high-level gymnasts need a substantial postoperative recovery period after shoulder injury, according to new data.

The researchers of “The Injured Shoulder in High-Level Male Gymnasts, Part 2: Can Athletes Return to Competition After Surgery?” sought to evaluate the results of surgical treatment of shoulder injuries in high-level male gymnasts which had never been documented before.

The study, which was published online on October 4, 2021, in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, analyzed both the functional and subjective results after surgical treatment of shoulder injuries in this population,as well as likelihood the athletes would return to sport at the same level as before the injury.

Twenty-three high-level male gymnasts (26 shoulders) were included in the study. The surgeries were performed over a 20-year period between 1994 and 2014. At time of surgery, 7 of the gymnasts were competing at the international level, 12 at the national elite level and 4 at the regional level.

The researchers used symptoms and anatomic lesions to classify the injured shoulders into two groups: painful shoulder (n =11) and unstable shoulders (n = 15). Overall, 15 capsulolabral repairs, 10 cuff debridements, 1 cuff repair, 4 superior labral anterior and posterior (SLAP) repairs and 8 suprapectoral biceps tenodesis were performed. Twelve of the shoulders had more than one procedure performed.

Of the 23 gymnasts, 21 or 91% returned to competitive gymnastics. Twenty of them at their preinjury level of sport. The researchers noted that all international-level gymnasts returned to their preinjury level of sport.

Three of the athletes need revision surgery and one athlete ended his career without returning to competition after the surgery. The postoperative period before returning to competitive gymnastics was 9 ± 3.5 months.

The researchers also reported that 12 of the 15 gymnasts treated with shoulder instability with arthroscopic stabilization were able to return to sport while all 8 of the gymnasts who underwent arthroscopic biceps tenodesis were able to return to sport at preinjury levels. Only 2 of the 4 gymnasts treated with SLAP repair were able to return to competition.

“Most gymnasts who required surgical treatment for a shoulder injury were able to return to competition at their previous level, although there was a considerable postoperative recovery period. Current arthroscopic reconstruction techniques were effective for treating structural lesions and allowing return to high-level gymnastics,” they wrote.

The researchers involved in the study included Patrick Gendre, M.D., of Polyclinique Saint Jean, Cagnes-Sun-Mar, France and Pascal Boileau, M.D., Ph.D. of the Institute de Chirurgie Réparatrice, Nice, France.