"The spine surgery will help your daughter breathe."

In the 1950s, about the same time that John Charnley was perfecting total hip replacement surgery in England (see previous blog posts), American Paul Harrington addressed a vexing spine problem. To understand the problem, consider that a snake slithers along by curving its spine repeatedly from side to side. By comparison, a human’s spine is not as flexible. It can bend a little from left to right but is normally straight when its owner stands tall. If a human spine develops a curve to the side that does not go away when standing at attention, the bend is unbalanced and tends to progress. Untreated, the spine can collapse to the side and cause shortened stature, an unsightly humpback, and compression of the heart and lungs inside a twisted ribcage. A compromised life ensues diminished circulatory and breathing capacity.

This spinal side-to-side curve is called scoliosis. In the mid 20th century, polio-induced muscle imbalance was the main cause of this debilitating deformity, and orthopedists tried various spine stretching and bracing devices to correct, or at least halt, the deformity’s progression. As you might imagine, gaining adequate control to align the head over the pelvis with a brace consisting of metal struts, leather straps, and horsehair pads proved to be nearly impossible. Comfort was certainly not a priority. Attempts at surgical correction were similarly primitive and tortuous. Illustrated are two patented, yet unsuccessful attempts to address the problem.

Although not by choice, Paul Harrington happened to .... continue reading