Shoulder Instability Surgeon in Dallas: Dr. Brett Raynor

Board-Certified | Fellowship-Trained in Vail | U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team Physician | D Magazine Best Doctor Every Year Since 2019

Dislocated your shoulder, or told it will keep happening?

Bring your MRI. The first question is what the dislocation did: whether the labrum tore off the front of the socket, how big the dent in the back of the ball is, and whether any bone has come off the edge of the socket. Those three things decide whether the shoulder will come out again and what, if anything, needs to be fixed. Dr. Raynor is a fellowship-trained orthopaedic sports medicine surgeon at Texas Orthopaedic Associates in Dallas who treats shoulder dislocations and shoulder instability every clinic day, in high school and college athletes especially. He will tell you plainly whether your shoulder is one that should be repaired now, one that can wait, or one that does not need surgery at all.

Why patients choose Dr. Raynor for shoulder instability

• It is one of the operations he performs most often. Arthroscopic shoulder stabilization is a core part of his practice, including revision stabilization for shoulders that were repaired elsewhere and came out again.

• A published record in shoulder instability. Dr. Raynor's research includes an outcomes study of arthroscopic stabilization in athletes with multidirectional instability, published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, where he has been a reviewer since 2016.

• The whole problem gets fixed at one surgery. The labrum is reattached with suture anchors, the stretched ligaments are tightened all the way around, a large dent in the ball is filled (remplissage) when it would otherwise catch, and the biceps and rotator cuff are checked and treated if needed. Bone loss is measured before surgery, not discovered during it.

• Surgery only when the odds say so. A first dislocation in a 35-year-old and a first dislocation in a 17-year-old are different problems. He goes through the recurrence numbers for your age and sport and lets you decide with them in front of you.

• A recovery you can plan around. Outpatient surgery with a nerve block, six weeks in a sling, strengthening from three months, sport-specific work from four, and overhead, contact and swimming sports at about six, once motion is full and strength is back.

• Athletes are his daily work. Team physician for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team, Dallas ISD, Highland Park High School, St. Mark's School of Texas, Ursuline Academy and The Hockaday School. Trained at Vanderbilt and the Steadman Philippon Research Institute in Vail; instructor at AANA Masters Courses.

Shoulder instability procedures Dr. Raynor performs

• Arthroscopic labral (Bankart) repair: the torn labrum and ligaments are reattached to the front of the socket with small suture anchors, through a few small incisions, as an outpatient surgery. How he does it, step by step.

• Remplissage: when the dent in the back of the ball is large enough to catch on the socket, anchors placed in the dent draw the back of the rotator cuff into it. In a randomized trial it lowered the rate of another dislocation from 18 percent to 4 percent at two years, and it does not change the recovery.

• Posterior labral repair: for shoulders that come out the back, with precautions that point the other way afterward.

• Capsular tightening for a loose shoulder (multidirectional instability): for shoulders that slip without a true dislocation, usually after a real trial of therapy.

• Procedures for bone loss from the socket: when repeated dislocations have chipped away a large share of the socket's edge, a labral repair alone is not reliable and a procedure that rebuilds the edge of the socket is needed. Dr. Raynor measures bone loss on the MRI or a CT before surgery and discusses what that means for you.

• Revision stabilization: for shoulders repaired elsewhere that have dislocated again, starting with why the first repair failed.

What a shoulder dislocation does, and how the repair works

The animation below shows the anchors and sutures used to reattach the labrum. For the full step-by-step walkthrough, see arthroscopic shoulder stabilization.

Shoulder instability questions

Will my shoulder dislocate again?

It depends mostly on age. In young athletes, most shoulders that dislocate once come out again without surgery, roughly two in three in the studies of first-time dislocators, compared with about one in ten after arthroscopic repair. Over 35, the odds of another dislocation fall and the question becomes the rotator cuff instead. Shoulder dislocations and instability goes through the numbers by age.

Do I need surgery after one dislocation?

Not always. For a young athlete in a contact or overhead sport, repairing the shoulder after the first dislocation is often the better choice, because each repeat dislocation can chip bone from the socket and make the eventual repair harder. For many adults, therapy and time are reasonable first steps. Dr. Raynor will put your MRI and your sport next to the recurrence numbers and tell you which group you are in.

What is the surgery?

An arthroscopic labral repair: through a few small incisions, the torn labrum and the stretched ligaments are reattached to the edge of the socket with small suture anchors, usually three or four, sometimes more if the tear extends to the back. A remplissage is added when the dent in the ball is large. It is outpatient surgery with a nerve block. The steps, in order.

What is the recovery like?

Six weeks in a sling, whenever you are up and while you sleep, with physical therapy starting within days. Motion comes back over the next six weeks, strengthening starts at three months, sport-specific work at four, throwing and skiing at about five, and overhead, serving, swimming and contact sports at about six. The recovery roadmap shows each stage, and the FAQs cover the sling, sleeping, showering, driving and work.

Does the repair hold?

For most patients, yes. Across the studies of first-time dislocators, about one patient in ten dislocates again after arthroscopic repair. The repairs that fail are usually in shoulders with bone loss, which is why it is measured before surgery, or in contact athletes who go back before the repair is ready, which is why nobody is cleared before four months.

What if I have already had surgery and it came out again?

Bring the operative report and a new MRI. The first job is to work out why the repair failed: a repair done too early, a return to sport too soon, a dent in the ball that was never addressed, or bone loss from the socket. Each has a different fix, and revision stabilization is part of Dr. Raynor's practice.

The recurrence figures above are cited in full, with DOI links, on Shoulder Dislocations and Shoulder Instability and Arthroscopic Shoulder Stabilization.

Learn more

• Shoulder dislocations and shoulder instability: what happened, and will it happen again

• How Dr. Raynor performs arthroscopic shoulder stabilization (labral repair)

• Shoulder stabilization recovery, stage by stage

• Shoulder instability FAQs

Medically reviewed by M. Brett Raynor, M.D., board-certified orthopaedic sports medicine surgeon. Updated October 2026.