The history and development of the Exeter Hip

Due largely to the work of four English Orthopaedic surgeons: Sir John Charnley of Manchester, G.K.McKee and J. Watson-Farrar of Norwich and Peter Ring of Redhill, Surrey, total replacement of the hip had become, by the mid- nineteen sixties, a practical proposition for the general orthopaedic surgeon. This operation produced a revolution for both surgeon and patient alike. Instead of weeks in hospital and an uncertain result from the surgical treatment of arthritis of the hip, a common and crippling disorder, total replacement appeared regularly to achieve a painless functioning hip with no more than 10-14 days as an in-patient. The inevitable consequence was an huge increase in demand so that the operation rapidly spread throughout the U.K. and subsequently, the world. In some countries, demand for the procedure soon swamped the available orthopaedic facilities.

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