This review explores recent advances in fixator design and used in contemporary orthopaedic practice including the management of bone loss, complex deformity and severe isolated limb injury

The December 2015 Foot & Ankle Roundup. 360 . looks at: The midfoot fusion bolt: has it had its day?; Ankle arthroplasty: only for the old?; A return to the Keller’s osteotomy for diabetic feet?; Joint sparing surgery for ankle arthritis in the context of deformity?; Beware the subtalar fusion in the ankle arthrodesis patient?; Nonunion in the foot and ankle a predictive score; Cast versus early weight bearing following Achilles tendon repair; Should we plate Lisfranc injuries?

The June 2014 Foot & Ankle Roundup. 360 . looks at: peroneal tendon tears associated with calcaneal fractures; syndesmosis procedure for first ray deformities; thromboprophylaxis not necessary in elective Ilizarov surgery; ankle replacement gaining traction in academic centres; some evidence for PRP and; fusion nailing and osteotomy an effective treatment for symptomatic tibial malunion

The June 2014 Children’s orthopaedics Roundup. 360 . looks at: plaster wedging in paediatric forearm fractures; the medial approach for DDH; Ponseti – but not as he knew it?; Salter osteotomy more accurate than Pemberton in DDH; is the open paediatric fracture an emergency?; bang up-to-date with femoral external fixation; indomethacin, heterotopic ossification and cerebral palsy hips; lengthening nails for congenital femoral deformities, and is MRI the answer to imaging of the physis?

The December 2013 Children’s orthopaedics Roundup. 360. looks at: Long term-changes in hip morphology following osteotomy; Arthrogrypotic wrist contractures are surgically amenable; Paediatric femoral lengthening over a nail; Current management of paediatric supracondylar fractures; MRI perfusion index predictive of Perthes’ progression; Abduction bracing effective in residual acetabular deformity; Hurler syndrome in the spotlight; and the Pavlik works for femoral fractures too!

The June 2013 Children’s orthopaedics Roundup. 360 . looks at: whether reaching a diagnosis is more difficult than previously thought; adolescent and paediatric DDH; the A-frame orthosis and Legg-Calvé-Perthes’ disease; failure of hip surgery in patients with cerebral palsy; adolescent rotator cuff injuries; paediatric peripheral nerve injuries; predicting residual deformity following Ponseti treatment; and the Dunn procedure.

The December 2012 Children’s orthopaedics Roundup. 360. looks at: whether arthrodistraction is the answer to Perthes’ disease; deformity correction in tarsal coalitions; ultrasound used to predict pain in Osgood-Schlatter’s disease; acetabular tilt; hip replacement for juvenile arthritis sufferers; whether post-operative radiographs are needed for supracondylar fractures; intra-articular local anaesthetic following supracondylar fracture fixation; and limb deformity

The April 2012 Wrist & Hand Roundup. 360 . looks at releasing the trigger finger, function in the osteoarthritic hand, complex regional pain syndrome, arthroscopic ligamentoplasty for the injured scapholunate ligament, self-concept and upper limb deformities in children, wrist arthroscopy in children, internal or external fixation for the fractured distal radius, nerve grafting, splinting the PIPJ contracture, and finding the stalk of a dorsal wrist ganglion

The April 2013 Knee Roundup. 360 . looks at: graft tension and outcome; chondrocytes at the midterm; pre-operative deformity and failure; the designer effect; whether chondroitin sulphate really does work; whether ACL reconstruction is really required; analgesia after TKR; and degenerative meniscus

Osteoarthritis is extremely common and many different causes for it have been described. One such cause is abnormal morphology of the affected joint, the hip being a good example of this. For those joints with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) or developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), a link with subsequent osteoarthritis seems clear. However, far from being abnormal, these variants may be explained by evolution, certainly so for FAI, and may actually be normal rather than representing deformity or disease. The animal equivalent of FAI is coxa recta, commonly found in species that run and jump. It is rarely found in animals that climb and swim. In contrast are the animals with coxa rotunda, a perfectly spherical femoral head, and more in keeping with the coxa profunda of mankind. This article describes the evolutionary process of the human hip and its link to FAI and DDH. Do we need to worry after all?