Superior glenoid impingement: Current concepts

In the current decade impingement syndrome is becoming a less precise diagnostic entity. It is splitting into several categories of more exact diagnoses. The concept development, clinical picture, and currently recommended treatment of 1 of these entities, the superior glenoid impingement is reviewed. The complaint may be acute or chronic and may involve 1 or more of 5 structures: (1) superior labrum, (2) rotator cuff tendon, (3) inferior glenohumeral ligament, (4) greater tuberosity, and (5) the bony glenoid. The most commonly seen clinical entity is chronic dorsal shoulder pain in an athlete who throws with a positive relocation test. Treatment consists of strengthening of the cuff and scapular rotators. When there has been excessive inferior ligament stretch this must be augmented by anterior reconstruction.