title: THE SPECIAL ORTHOPEDIC HOSPITAL--PAST AND PRESENT.
abstract: Pioneer orthopedic institutions established in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and in the U.S.A. in the second half of the 19th and the first decade of the 20th century, can trace their ancestry in ideas back to the practice and teachings of Hippocrates. Experience in treatment of great numbers of injured soldiers in the First World War opened a new era in reconstructive surgery of the locomotor system.After the Second World War, in advanced nations the pattern of crippling diseases showed a spectacular change. Problems that justify the existence of large special orthopedic hospitals are, in children, the more complex congenital deformities, cerebral palsies, and the increasing number of injuries due to hazards of modern life; in the adult, the reconstructive surgery of trauma and of arthritis.In modern orthopedic hospitals physicians have joined orthopedic surgeons in the study of the natural history of the various forms of arthritis. These centres provide facilities for biomechanical research and postgraduate training which acute general hospitals cannot offer.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001168:Arthritis; D001415:Back; D002547:Cerebral Palsy; D002648:Child; D005060:Europe; D006664:History; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D049711:History, Modern 1601-; D006761:Hospitals; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006782:Hospitals, Special; D006801:Humans; D019369:Life; D008889:Military Personnel; D009985:Orthopedics; D010820:Physicians; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D012106:Research; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States; D047828:World War I; D047789:World War II
keywords: CHILD; EUROPE; GREAT BRITAIN; HISTORY; HISTORY OF MEDICINE, ANCIENT; HISTORY OF MEDICINE, MEDIEVAL; HISTORY OF MEDICINE, MODERN; HOSPITALS; ORTHOPEDICS; UNITED STATES