Boston's contributions to the development of orthopaedics in the United States. A brief history.

Abstract

Since the early part of the nineteenth century, physicians from Boston have had a major impact on orthopaedics in America. Initially, the general surgeons such as John Ball Brown and his son, Buckminster had an impact on orthopaedics, but contributors such as Henry Bigelow and Charles Scudder added greatly to the knowledge and capacity for care. The first orthopaedic ward, Ward I, was located at the Massachusetts General Hospital and began the new era. Surgical treatment by orthopaedists began in the twentieth century with such contributors as Philip Wilson, EA Codman, Robert B. Osgood, Joel Goldthwait, Elliot Brackett, Robert Lovett, and Edward Bradford. These physicians not only treated patients at the Children's, Tufts University, Boston City, the Beth Israel, and the Massachusetts General Hospitals, but assumed the academic responsibilities of a major educational center. More recently the contributors to orthopaedics have included Marius Smith-Petersen, Otto Aufranc, Henry Banks, Edward Cave, Carter Rowe, Joseph Barr, and others who have created a spectacular program for education, research, and clinical care.