Authors evaluated the long-term results of arthroscopic electrothermal shrinkage of internal impingement in competition athletes. In the study they only included high level, overhead athletes with a history of longstanding pain in their dominant shoulder due to internal impingement. In this series, ten men and two woman were included. All patients were high level overhead athletes who performed in different sports (volleyball, baseball, tennis and swimming). Conclusion following the results of the study: Our study confirms the good short-term results for thermal capsulorraphy in athletes with internal impingement. To our knowledge this study is the first that reports on the long-term results. Our data show that there is a marked deterioration of the results in time. We can not exclude that antero-inferior capsular laxity plays a role in the pathophysiology of internal impingement, but our study does not support the concept that treating this laxity by thermal capsular shrinkage will provide satisfying long-term results. Because there is still some doubt about the primary cause of internal impingement, it would be interesting to compare the results of capsulorraphy with those of the repair of the posterosuperior labrum.
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