We studied 10 amateur and professional athletes in different sports (soccer,
hockey,
basketball,
rugby,
volleyball) who had a feeling of instability of an upper limb,
occurred after a sport trauma caused by direct and indirect tackle to the joint.
We cut out from the study those subjects who showed fractures or bone contusions.
In particular,
we selected patients who had a history of possible overuse caused by trauma coming from a repeated athletic actions and patients presenting a verified direct sport trauma.
All athletes had the same feeling of instability ( Fig.1,2 ) .
The MRI basic exam was carried out with high field Philips 1.5 Tesla machinery,
using T1 and T2 weighted TSE sequences.
Afterwards,
we continued with an Esaote G Scan Brio MRI and carried on a T1 and T2 weighted sequences in Aber clinostatic position ( Fig.3 ) ,
repeated with the patient seated in weight bearing and the limb under tension with an additional weight that helped us keep it in position ( Fig.4 ) .
For the Aber,
we used a FSE REL.
Preliminary results gave us a better definition of the glenohumeral joint misalignment and of the capsular ligament compromission.
More specifically,
we have noticed an increase in the capsule distension with greater evidence of labrum avulsion and greater misalignment .
Furthermore,
during the functional dynamic phase,
posterior intra joint and subscapularis compromission are more evident ( Fig.5,6 ).
In 2 cases,
the information obtained by the functional weight bearing exam led us to push for surgery,
rather than the planned conservative treatment.
During the Aber,
some patients showed a certain discomfort and difficulty in keeping the weight bearing position for the time needed to acquire a sequence free of artefacts caused by movement.