Thomas Schmalzried, MD is an orthopedic surgeon and medical researcher with decades of experience studying and performing hip and knee arthroplasty procedures. Thomas Schmalzried, MD has received numerous awards throughout his career and has helped a great many patients with joint disorders.
In the 1860s, Themistocles Gluck developed a variety of endoprostheses using ivory which he used to perform the first documented total wrist arthroplasty and several knee arthroplasties. It would be almost 100 years until the introduction of the Walldius hinge joint, a descendant of which is still used today. It was a more modern approach to a joint replacement but suffered from early failure in the initial iterations.
During the 1960s, pioneering British orthopedic surgeon John Charnley created a total hip replacement procedure with materials that inspired modern total knee replacement surgery. While studying in England, Frank Gunston designed an unhinged knee joint prosthesis that replaced both sides of the joint with separate condylar components. Subsequent developments led to the total condylar resurfacing, metal-on-polyethylene designs in use today.
Modern-day joint prosthetics continue to improve. New and better materials are used, surgical planning and implantation is more precise, and functional capability has increased.
Thomas Schmalzried 