ABSTRACT
Neolithic skeletal remains suggest that the technique of splinting was used to treat fractures even then. Arthritic conditions have been identified in bones found in Egyptian burial sites dated to about 3000 bc. Descriptions of arthritis and a treatment for a broken upper arm are found in the Edwin Smith Papyrus, an Ancient Egyptian text that has been dated to 2000 bc. From the Middle Ages to the early nineteenth century, the old skill of bone setting was the preserve of carpenters, blacksmiths and retired sailors. Medical men acquired this skill and bone setters disappeared as the new speciality of orthopaedics developed, although its clear distinction from other branches of medicine only occurred during the First World War. Many decades later, Hugh Thomas was proved correct by a follow-up study on 3000 fractures reduced by relatively inexperienced doctors, the findings of which were published in the British Medical Journal in 1912.
