Modern orthopaedics and the forgotten child

Authors

Abstract

The French physician, Nicholas Andre, coined the term ‘orthopaedics’ in 1741, having derived it from the Greek orthos meaning straight, and paedeia meaning the rearing of children. Therefore, ‘orthopaedics’ can be loosely translated as the art of making children straight.

Much has changed in the subsequent 300 odd years, and the field of orthopaedic surgery has evolved and expanded beyond anything that Andre and his peers could have foreseen, displacing the management of children’s deformities further and further into the background.

Author Biography

Anria Horn, University of Cape Town

MBChB(UP), MMed Orth(UCT), FC Orth(SA); Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Cape Town and Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa

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Published

2022-03-16

Issue

Section

Editorial