Harrington's 1962 paper describes the development of the first implantable spinal instrumentation system for scoliosis correction. A stainless steel rod-and-hook construct applies distraction to the concave side and compression to the convex side of the curve. Results from 129 patients across three iterative cohorts (1949–1960) document progressive refinement of technique and outcomes.
Before this paper, operative scoliosis treatment meant fusion alone with no active deformity correction. External bracing was the only tool for curve control, and no implant existed to maintain intraoperative reduction.
Harrington demonstrated that a metal construct could safely reduce a scoliotic curve and hold it corrected — a paradigm that defined surgical spine practice for the next two decades. The Harrington rod remained the dominant system worldwide into the 1980s, when Luque's segmental sublaminar wiring and later pedicle screw constructs superseded it.
Know the Harrington factor for boards: Cobb degrees divided by vertebrae in the curve. A value of 5 or more means surgery; 3–5 in a skeletally immature child means brace. The core construct of instrumented correction combined with arthrodesis remains unchanged in contemporary practice.
The principal complication Harrington rods introduced. Loss of lumbar lordosis (flatback syndrome). Directly drove development of contoured and segmental systems, teaching the field that sagittal balance is as critical as coronal correction.
Harrington's 1962 paper describes the development of the first implantable spinal instrumentation system for scoliosis correction. A stainless steel rod-and-hook construct applies distraction to the concave side and compression to the convex side of the curve. Results from 129 patients across three iterative cohorts (1949–1960) document progressive refinement of technique and outcomes.
Before this paper, operative scoliosis treatment meant fusion alone with no active deformity correction. External bracing was the only tool for curve control, and no implant existed to maintain intraoperative reduction.
Harrington demonstrated that a metal construct could safely reduce a scoliotic curve and hold it corrected — a paradigm that defined surgical spine practice for the next two decades. The Harrington rod remained the dominant system worldwide into the 1980s, when Luque's segmental sublaminar wiring and later pedicle screw constructs superseded it.
Know the Harrington factor for boards: Cobb degrees divided by vertebrae in the curve. A value of 5 or more means surgery; 3–5 in a skeletally immature child means brace. The core construct of instrumented correction combined with arthrodesis remains unchanged in contemporary practice.
The principal complication Harrington rods introduced. Loss of lumbar lordosis (flatback syndrome). Directly drove development of contoured and segmental systems, teaching the field that sagittal balance is as critical as coronal correction.