The early 1900’s can be seen as a great turning point for Orthopedics. The discovery of the X-ray almost marked 1900 and Orthopaedics itself was only now being seen as a true specialty of its own. The British still dominated Orthopaedic developments, but the new world had now reached maturity and there were increasingly more contributions being made by the Americans. The bloom of understanding, with the introduction of the X-ray, was not as dramatic as expected. Instead, the turn of the century was marked by new institutions and associations that sought to mark Orthopaedic Surgery as an individual and growing specialty.
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In the age of 70, 40% of women will have experienced a fracture and even young children are seeing more orthopedic injuries related to more children participating in sports. As we age our bone mineral content lessens and as we are more competitive with sports from an early age we are more exposed to injury through contact sports, repetitive motions and over training. Physical inactivity is one of the factors that decreases the mineral content of bone so even when you become injured, its’ not the time to stop exercising.
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Nanotubes inspire new technique for healing broken bones. Scientists have shown for the first time that carbon nanotubes make an ideal scaffold for the growth of bone tissue. The new technique could change the way doctors treat broken bones, allowing them to simply inject a solution of nanotubes into a fracture to promote healing.
The success of a bone graft depends on the ability of the scaffold to assist the natural healing process. Artificial bone scaffolds have been made from a wide variety of materials, such as polymers or peptide fibers, but they have a number of drawbacks, including low strength and the potential for rejection in the body.
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