Spinal Disorders: Fundamentals of Diagnosis and Treatment Part 5. Spinal disorders are among the most common medical conditions with significant impact on health related quality of life, use of health care resources and socio-economic costs. Spinal surgery is still one of the fastest growing areas in clinical medicine. | 12 Section History of Spinal Disorders Spinal deformities were thought to result from spinal luxation Pare 1510-1590 introduced a brace for scoliosis treatment Blount introduced the Milwaukee brace Glisson developed a swing suspension by the head and armpits Heister s iron cross served as a prototype for later scoliosis braces The book Orthopedia made Nicholas Andry the father of modern orthopedics Venel invented a spinal extension machine orthopedic bed bench or scamnum the Latin expression for traction table with which patients were stretched both horizontally and with underarm and leg distraction in suspension. In later times only little progress was made regarding the etiology and treatment of spinal deformities. Even at the end of the Middle Ages the common belief was that a spinal deformity was caused by a spinal luxation. Therefore such deformities were called spina luxata and the term included every kind of scoliosis and kyphosis. In 1544 the famous Italian surgeon Guido Guidi 1508-1569 proposed treating such spinal deformities by using the techniques of a traction table as introduced by Hippocrates and elaborated by Oribasius 325-405 . 91 . The surgical textbook Chirurgia e Graeco in Latinum Conuersa written by Guido Guidi alias Vidus Vidius contains many illustrations depicting different types of extension machines also known as traction tables 42 . A less cruel method of treating spinal deformities was developed by Ambroise Paré 1510-1590 . The father of French surgery also reintroduced the ligature of vessels. He suggested treating scoliosis by an iron plate brace Fig. 4d 79 which had to be changed in size during the acceleration phase of child growth at least every 3 months. A revolutionary step forward in scoliosis bracing was made by the American orthopedic surgeon Walter Putnam Blount 1900-1992 who was devoted to scoliosis and its treatment. In 1945 Blount introduced the so-called Milwaukee brace which is still in use today 7 . The English .
