The Bankart repair: past, present, and future

Abstract

Arthur Sidney Blundell Bankart was a London-based orthopedic surgeon who discovered the essential lesion in recurrent anterior shoulder instability in 1923. He pioneered a technique, the Bankart repair, to re-establish stability to the glenohumeral joint, without sacrificing native joint motion. In this article, the original Bankart repair is compared to the modern arthroscopic Bankart repair, accompanied by a surgical video of Blundell Bankart performing the Bankart repair in 1951, shortly before his death. Bankart's original description included an open repair with a coracoid osteotomy and subscapularis tenotomy and repair. The history of the technique, its utility in present day, and the future of the Bankart repair are discussed.

Keywords: Bankart; capsulolabral; glenohumeral; history; instability; labrum; repair; shoulder.