# Patient-Specific Strategies for Capsular Repair Following Shoulder Dislocations

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2021 · $164,640

## Abstract

Project Summary
Traumatic dislocation of the shoulder is an injury that commonly affects young athletes and has
been associated with recurrent instability despite surgical repair. This recurrent instability leads
to long-term disability due to early osteoarthritis and loss of shoulder function. Recently, we have
characterized the location, magnitude, and direction of capsular injury following multiple shoulder
dislocations. The findings of these studies show that the capsular injury pattern following
dislocation occurs at regions not previously addressed during surgery and depends on the
number of dislocations. This suggests that a more injury-specific capsular repair might be needed
in order to improve shoulder function post-operatively. The overall objective of the proposed
project is to assess the restoration of glenohumeral kinematics following multiple dislocations
using injury-specific capsular repair strategies. Our overall hypothesis is that capsular plication
procedures must account for magnitude and direction of injury to properly restore normal joint
stability. The first step to achieve this goal is to develop an optimized design for injury-specific
capsular repair based on non-recoverable strain data (capsular injury) that best restores
kinematics to those of the intact shoulder. (Aim 1a) A novel robotic testing system will dislocate
cadaveric shoulders and simulate clinical exams to assess joint stability. An optical tracking
system will quantify the non-recoverable strain. In order to translate this information to the clinical
setting, the non-recoverable strain data will be correlated with capsular surface area changes as
quantified on MR arthrogram. (Aim 1b) Finally, MR arthrograms will be used to characterize
capsular injury before and after surgical repair in subjects that have dislocated their shoulders.
The contralateral shoulder will serve as a control and allow assessment of areas of the capsule
that current repair methods do not adequately address (Aim 2). The findings of this study will
further validate the need for injury-specific repair strategies and provide a solution that can
ultimately be implemented in a future randomized controlled trial. Exploring injury-specific
strategies can help improve shoulder function and reduce the rate of recurrent instability following
capsular repair. Thus, guidelines could be developed to direct the treatment of athletes that
experience multiple dislocations throughout a season. Finally, the cost and disability associated
with the long-term sequelae of multiple shoulder dislocations will be reduced.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10109796
- **Project number:** 1R21AR078418-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Richard E Debski
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $164,640
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-01-01 → 2022-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10109796

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10109796, Patient-Specific Strategies for Capsular Repair Following Shoulder Dislocations (1R21AR078418-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10109796. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*