Labral Tears Part 2: Bankart Repair, Remplissage, Latarjet, SLAP—What Surgery & Recovery Look Like

In Part 2 of our Labrum series, Dr. Caleb Davis and Dr. Justin Givens dive straight into the surgery side of labral tears and shoulder instability—what procedures we actually do, why we choose them, and what you should expect during recovery and return to sport.

We break down the most common instability operation (arthroscopic Bankart repair) and the real-world technical details that matter: capsulorrhaphy/capsular shift, why surgeons worry about overtightening, why knotless anchors are becoming the norm, and why many surgeons prefer all-suture anchors to protect long-term socket bone.

Then we get into the big add-ons and “advanced” instability work:

Remplissage (literally “fill the defect”) for Hill-Sachs lesions

When bone loss changes everything (CT scans, % glenoid loss, and the ~20% conversation)

Latarjet (coracoid transfer) vs distal tibia allograft (DTA) and other bone-augmentation options

Finally, we tackle the SLAP era—why we got “SLAP-happy,” why that shifted, and why biceps tenodesis is increasingly part of the modern conversation (even in younger athletes), plus the reality that throwers often have adaptive anatomy that’s hard to “restore” perfectly.

Recovery basics (general overview):
Typical stabilization rehab often includes ~4 weeks in a sling, gradual range of motion, no strengthening until ~3 months, and return to higher-level sport around ~6 months (individual protocols vary).

Drop your questions in the comments—this is a huge topic and we can absolutely do follow-up episodes.