The Sports Docs Podcast
Sports medicine is a constantly evolving field, with hundreds of new articles published each month on the topic. This ever-growing wealth of information can make it challenging to stay updated on the newest approaches and techniques, and to know which data should actually change your practice. Join orthopedic surgeons, Dr. Catherine Logan and Dr. Ashley Bassett, as they chat about the most recent developments in sports medicine and dissect through all the noise.
On each episode of The Sports Docs podcast, the hosts will tackle a specific injury – from ACL tears to shoulder instability – and review the top research from various high-impact journals that month, including The American Journal of Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery, Sports Health, Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons, and more. The Sports Docs will also be joined by experts in the field of sports medicine – orthopedic surgeons, nonoperative sports medicine specialists, athletes, physical therapists, athletic trainers and others – to provide a fresh and well-rounded perspective based on their unique experiences.
The Sports Docs – Dr. Logan & Dr. Bassett – are friends & former co-residents from the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program, who went onto esteemed sports medicine fellowships at The Steadman Clinic and The Rothman Institute, respectively. Dr. Logan practices in Denver, CO, and serves as Team Physician for Men's USA Lacrosse & as a Team Physician for U.S. Ski & Snowboard. Dr. Bassett is the director of the Women’s Sports Medicine Center at the Orthopedic Institute of New Jersey and practices across northern NJ, primarily in Morris and Sussex Counties.
Together, they will bring monthly conversations on how to care for athletes of all ages and levels of play, with a healthy mix of cutting-edge science and real-world application.
The Sports Docs Podcast
106: Overtime: SLAP Tear Management - Repair or Tenodesis? (REBOOT)
Welcome to Overtime with the Sports Docs. On each of these mini episodes, Catherine and I chat about a new topic or surgical technique in the field of sports medicine. We’ll give you our quick take on the most recent data ranging from operative indications, surgical approaches, post-op protocols and most importantly – patient outcomes.
Today we’re talking about SLAP tears – tears of the superior labrum from anterior to posterior. We have two great articles for you today that focus on the surgical management of SLAP tears – specifically whether we should be repairing SLAP tears or proceeding directly to biceps tenodesis. We will also discuss the different types of biceps tenodesis procedures – mainly arthroscopic suprapectoral versus open subpectoral.
Our first paper looks specifically at this patient population – young overhead athletes – and investigates the functional and athletic outcomes after primary subpectoral biceps tenodesis for type II SLAP tears.
Brian Waterman and Tony Romeo published a case series in the January 2023 issue of Arthroscopy titled “High Rate of Return to Sporting Activity Among Overhead Athletes with Subpectoral Biceps Tenodesis for Type II SLAP Tear”. The authors reported that 81% of patients returned to their previous level of play at an average of 4 months post-op. There were also significant improvements in VAS and SANE scores post-op.
But how do repairs do in this population? The answer is… not great. Return to preinjury level of play after SLAP repair has been reported in the range of 54% to 63% of elite throwers. In one cohort study by Boileau, 60% of patients reported persistent shoulder pain after SLAP repair and 50% elected to undergo secondary surgery. Provencher published on his outcomes of SLAP repair in an active military population and reported a 37% failure rate and 28% revision rate at short to mid-term follow up.
Our second article focuses on this and is titled “No Difference in Clinical Outcomes for Arthroscopic Suprapectoral Versus Open Subpectoral Biceps Tenodesis at Midterm Follow-up.” Nikhil Verma – who will be joining us at AOSSM – and colleagues at Rush compared arthroscopic suprapectoral tenodesis versus open subpectoral tenodesis for long head of biceps tendon disease, so not SLAP tears. They reported no significant differences in patient reported outcomes or complications at any time point.