Shoulder dislocation is often caused by excessive abduction and external rotation of the upper arm. Anterior shoulder dislocation may be accompanied with axillary nerve injury, labrum avulsion (Bankart injury) , glenoid fracture (bony Bankart injury) , rotator cuff tear and humeral head compression fracture (Hill-Sachs injury) or greater tuberosity fractures, and dislocation accompanied with other injuries can be defined as complex shoulder dislocations. With the further understanding of shoulder joint dislocation, the rate of accompanied injuries has also increased. Studies have shown that early repair of the accompanied injuries was beneficial to restore shoulder joint stability.

To investigate the association between complicated injury types and shoulder function of patients with shoulder dislocation.

We retrospectively retrieved the data of 32 patients with complicated shoulder dislocation from January 2015 to December 2017. Preoperative factors included age, gender, mechanisms of injury, associated injury types and surgical approaches.

Among patients with isolated greater tuberosity fracture, the VAS scores in the surgery (n=8) and conservative group (n=6) were 0.75±0.71 and 3.33±1.03, respectively, with statistically significant difference (P<0.01) . The ASES scores in the surgery (n=8) and conservative group (n=6) were 78.75±11.11 and 64.17±11.63, respectively, with statistical difference (P=0.04) . Preoperative VAS, ASES and CM scores were 5.19±0.98, 46.38±5.70, and 43.65±5.83, respectively, and postoperative score were 0.54±0.58, 80.00±8.87, and 74.54±12.76, respectively. The differences were statistically significant (P<0.01) . Multivariable linear regression analysis demonstrated that none of the injuries had association with shoulder function after operation.

Surgical repair of dislocation associated injuries can improve shoulder function and restore joint stability.