NEW ORLEANS — When used in high school athletes, the nonoperative instability severity index score showed athletes with anterior shoulder instability and certain other factors were more likely to achieve successful outcomes with nonoperative treatment, according to results presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.

“Most high school … athletes were successful at returning to complete, not only their current season, but a subsequent season, without surgical intervention and without any time lost due to reinjury of their shoulder,” John M. Tokish, MD, senior associate consultant and professor of orthopedic surgery at Mayo Clinic, Arizona, told Orthopedics Today. “Further, we were able to create a score that would accurately predict which ones of those athletes were at risk for failure with this nonoperative management.”