Bankart Lesion

A Bankart lesion is a tear in the cartilage cushion that lines the front rim of your shoulder socket: the labrum. It usually happens when the shoulder pops out of joint at the front (an anterior shoulder dislocation). That cushion, plus the ligament right beneath it, is the main thing keeping your shoulder from slipping out the front. Once it tears, the shoulder loses its anchor and tends to dislocate again and again. A more severe form, a bony Bankart, also chips off a piece of the socket's bony rim, which makes the joint even less stable and changes how surgery has to be planned.

Diagnosis starts with your story: usually a prior shoulder dislocation, or moments where the shoulder felt like it might slip out. In the exam room, your surgeon performs a focused physical exam of the shoulder, gently moving your arm through the positions that test how stable the joint is. Imaging fills in the picture: an MRI with contrast inside the joint shows the torn cartilage; a CT scan is added if there is a chance bone is missing from the rim. Your surgeon weighs your age, activity level, and how much bone is involved to predict how likely the shoulder is to keep dislocating, which guides whether surgery is the right call.

Not every Bankart lesion goes straight to the operating room. After a first dislocation, especially in older patients or those who would rather avoid surgery, non-operative care comes first. The options below are listed in the order we usually introduce them.

Surgery is typically recommended when the shoulder keeps slipping out, when you are a young athlete in a contact or overhead sport (much higher risk of it happening again), or when there is significant bone loss from the socket rim.

External patient-education references and related OSI pages for additional background:

• AAOS OrthoInfo, patient education library
• OSI glossary, orthopedic terminology in plain language