The lax shoulder in females - Issues, answers, but many more questions

A review of the existing data on shoulder laxity in females reveals there a re insufficient data to confirm the commonly held belief that shoulders in females are more lax than shoulders in males, Laxity is not synonymous with instability: Although females may have increased generalized joint laxity relative to males, generalized joint laxity does not correlate with shoulde r laxity, There is conflicting data regarding shoulder laxity and gender, A review of patients with multidirectional instability who were treated oper atively showed that 55% of the patients were female (N = 94) and 45% were m ale (N = 77), but the number or gender of patients who were treated nonoper atively was not reported. Multidirectional instability is reviewed in the c ontext of the lax shoulder in the female. Initial treatment should be nonop erative, emphasizing physical therapy and dynamic stabilization of the shou lder, If nonoperative treatment fails, open or arthroscopic inferior capsul ar shift stabilization is recommended. Additional basic science and clinica l trials are needed to determine whether thermal capsulorrhaphy should be c onsidered in the treatment of patients with multidirectional instability of the shoulder.