Cardiff, Wales—A senior orthopedic surgeon at the University Hospital of Wales has pioneered a new technique—inspired by hair plaiting—for reconstruction of the anterior cruciate knee ligament.
John Fairclough, MD, was looking for a solution to the difficulty of repairing damaged knee ligaments and strengthening the tendons between the femur and the tibia. Inspiration came from an unexpected source: while watching his wife plait the hair of his 12-year-old daughter, Fairclough recognized the advantages of plaiting four strands of tendons together. However, creating a four-strand plait seemed beyond the skill of his wife or others he consulted.
The breakthrough came when Fairclough's local hairdresser, who uses the plaiting technique at his salon, visited him with a knee injury and agreed to teach him how to do the plait.
"I was doing some experimental work in the lab. I had these four strands [of the gracilis and semitendinosus tendons], . . . [Full Text of this Article]
