The Principia Orthopaedia

Attention medical students and orthopaedic residents:

(And if you are a faculty member, please pass this on)

Consider this:

  • In 1665, the plague struck Cambridge University and all students were sent home. Isaac Newton went back to Woolsthorpe Manor and there, according to legend, invented calculus; formulated a theory of mechanics; and discovered the laws of optics that became the Principia Mathematica.
  • When the plague forced Shakespeare to practice social distancing, he holed up and wrote King Lear and Macbeth from his quarantined quarters.

What will you do when circumstances force you off campus?

If you are looking to exercise your expertise and contribute to a good cause, perhaps you will consider writing for Orthopaedia.

Orthopaedia is a project of the United States Bone and Joint Initiative and the (not-for-profit) Codman Group. When complete, Orthopaedia will be an 8-volume resource in musculoskeletal medicine – an online eBook. Orthopaedia aims to be completely free like Wikipedia - and is validated as the most expensive textbook on Amazon.

To date, three volumes (hand , foot/ankle and sports) are complete, and others (pediatrics, tumor and fracture) are nearing completion.

As you can see, all chapters follow a structured outline and are not long.

There is only a little bit more to be done. With a final push, this project can be completed this year, but to do this, we need your help.

Orthopaedia is provided to the public for free. Therefore, it is both true and meaningless to say that all writers will be paid 100% of the sales revenue. There will be no revenue! But there is plenty of karma and goodwill to share and we hope you will want to get yours.

If you would like to help complete the work by authoring a chapter, please send a short note to Joe Bernstein, [email protected] using the subject line “Orthopaedia” with a brief description of your background and area of interest. If you are selected, detailed instructions and guidance (perhaps more than you want!) will be provided.

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