Transition from malum coxae senilis to the concept of osteoarthritis. Summary of the best-known theories and classifications

The disease of degenerative arthritis has been known for thousands of years . Paleopathology has provided findings of ancient degenerative alterations. Furthermore, physicians in classical antiquity described several forms of joint diseases. A challenging problem was the therapy, which was limited at what time. For centuries all joint diseases were subsumed under the term " rheumatism." In 1683 Thomas Sydenham,who suffered himself from gout first differentiated this joint disease from the larger group of rheumatic joint diseases. Anot her early classification was undertaken by John Haygarth In 1779. He differ entiated gout from malum coxae senilis and the chronic rheumatic diseases. The different theories and the resulting classifications were influenced by different disciplines such as surgery, internal medicine, pathology, anato my, neurology, microbiology, and radiology. This investigation includes the time period from the early nineteenth century until 1925 when the word "ar throsis" was first used in a medical publication. This investigation is based on research at the library of the German Museum for Orthopedic History and Science as well on the systematic search for ar ticles in different German journals such as Zeitschrift fur Orthopadie and Fortschritte auf dem Gebiet der Rontgenstrahlen. It includes almost all imp ortant books and publications about degenerative arthritis for this time pe riod. In the past there were many different descriptions for degenerative arthrit is. The establishment of X-rays and new methods in histology and microbiolo gy and the aspect of biomechanical theories led to a better understanding o f the different diseases. The authors tried to construct new classification s without the knowledge of the causal and formal pathogenesis. This is the reason for the large number of different classifications, which had to be r evised after a short period of time. This publication gives an overview about the most important articles and bo oks which led to the classification currently in use.