Medical training is constantly changing. Surgical training is becoming shorter and the decision about which branch to follow is being asked at an evermore junior level. It is only possible to make an informed career choice by having a suffi cient grasp of the relevant speciality and, wherever possible, having some exposure to it. Orthopaedics is a changing speciality. Sub specialization has become commonplace and the ‘ general ’ orthopaedic surgeon is now rare. This book attempts to introduce most aspects of orthopaedics at a level which will satisfy medical students, students of professions allied to medicine and general practitioners alike. This fourth edition has been rewritten to make it easier to study the basis of orthopaedics (Part 1) and then to refer to each region in turn (Part 2). With the advent of sub - specialization, this is how the subject is often now encountered. The regional section is further sub - divided into four areas: examination, adult pathology, paediatric pathology and trauma. We hope we have achieved our goal in creating a book which is broad enough in scope to cover most pathologies whilst covering the more common conditions in suffi cient depth to allow a comprehensive understanding.