Can the US innovate?

Said to me by a very eminent Orthopaedic Professor over here (London) "No orthopaedic innovation (apart from ATLS which is organisational) has come out of the States since WW2"

Discuss

Tommy John surgery?

Someone might want to let Marshall Urist he didn't come up with anything new.

Austin T Moore also had a reasonable influence - however, these are the non-americans I can come up with

Fracture fixation - Swiss
Intramedullary nails - German (originally British)
Cement - german
THRs - British
Elbows - British
Ankles - Scandinavian
Arthroscopy - Japanese
Cartilage work - Swedish/ British
Herbert screw - Brit who emigrated after to Oz
Hip resurfacing - British
TKRs first most successful - Insall British

Let's debate which country is the most academic.

All questions I don't know the answer to who "invented" pedicle screws? Kyphoplasty is US no? What about "hard" bearing surfaces? Is anyone proud to have "invented" ankle arthroplasty? Or the double bundle reconstruction? Radial head replacements? What about Odriscoll's distal humerus techniques?

This has got to be the dumbest thing I have seen in a long time, including arthroscopic lavage of arthritic joints.

Easy fella!

I think maybe the point is that there are 1 or 2 things that happen outside of the US in Orthopaedics that tend to be ignored by you guys!

For example:

The Reverse Total Shoulder Prosthesis

The New Kid on the Block

Charles A. Rockwood, Jr., MD JBJS(A). 2007;89:233-235.

"I wrote this editorial to let the reader know that, yes indeed, there is a new and different prosthesis that is available for the treatment of selected severe uncommon shoulder problems"

"The reverse shoulder prosthesis is indeed a new concept in the United States for the management of patients who have irreparable loss of the rotator cuff and severe arthritis of the shoulder combined with severe loss of shoulder function"

"This prosthesis was first developed by Professor Paul Grammont in the mid-1980s in Dijon, France, and has been extensively used in Europe up to the current time" - "the Delta III version became available in 1991"

So only 15 years behind the curve then!!!