Background. The functional outcome and risk of recurrence following arthroscopic stabilisation for recurrent anterior shoulder instability is poorly defined in large prospective outcome studies. This is the first study to prospectively evaluate these outcomes in patients who have been treated using this technique. Methods. We performed a prospective study of a consecutive series of 302 patients (265 men and 37 women, mean age 26.4 years) who underwent 311 (9 bilateral)