Affiliation:
1. Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath, England
Abstract
A number of simple instruments are widely used to handle bone and tissue during orthopaedic surgical procedures. In many cases these instruments were invented by surgeons some years ago and have stood the test of time. Sometimes the current use of an instrument is different from its intended use. The originating surgeons often had active enquiring minds and contributed to surgical practice in many different fields. Many of them held important posts in surgical societies and associations. The aim of this review was to briefly describe the relevant instrument and give a short biography of some of the more interesting surgeons who contributed to instruments still used in surgical practice today.