As you can see I have been reading John Charnley's book on 'The closed treatment of fractures' third edition 1968 in preparation of my posting at the Justinien Hospital in Cap Haitien. This is an excellent description of fracture treatment before the advent of the shiny metal implants and I recommend it to any orthopaedic trainee or anybody working in developing countries. This book was given to me by the late Bruce McMillan and it was purchased in Edinburgh at a price of 50 shillings.
I met John Charnley's cousin about a month ago. He told me that the family story is that Charnley had the idea of using a small head femoral component from seeing the ball joint on his uncle's bike that was used for delivering mail. Apparently the mail box somehow articulated on the steering with one.
ReplyDeleteAll the best for the trip.