O'Donoghue, J Sports Med 1973 - Editorial: Presidential Address

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Editorial: Presidential Address

O'Donoghue·J Sports Med·1973·1 citations·Commentary

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This is the inaugural presidential address of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), delivered by its first president, Don H. O'Donoghue, in 1973. It is a historical and organizational document that explains why a dedicated orthopedic sports medicine society was created. It is not a scientific study and reports no clinical data.

Key Findings

AOSSM was founded in 1973 with 76 founding members, growing from an initial mailing to 66 interested Academy members. O'Donoghue served as its first president, marking the formal organization of orthopedic sports medicine as a subspecialty.
The society grew out of the AAOS Sports Medicine Committee established in 1962, whose founding members included O'Donoghue, Bruce Brewer, Ed McDonnell, Jack Hughston, and Don Slocum. This committee built the educational infrastructure that AOSSM later expanded.
The committee's postgraduate course program grew from a single course in 1967 to five courses in 1973, with attendance so high it had to be capped in some sessions. This demonstrated the untapped demand that justified a full society.
AOSSM was deliberately structured as a full AAOS affiliate, not a free-standing group, so that inevitable subspecialization would not fragment or dilute the collective influence of orthopedics.
The core rationale is clinical: the athlete is defined as a distinct population who demands complete recovery, where any residual deficit is immediately obvious to patient, physician, and community.
O'Donoghue argues that because athletes are young and healthy, they can tolerate the most definitive treatment available rather than the compromised care often forced by comorbidity in other patients.

Board PearlThe 1973 AOSSM presidential address by Don O'Donoghue marks the formal founding of orthopedic sports medicine as an organized subspecialty.

Editorial: Presidential Address.

O'DonoghueJ Sports Med19731 citationsCommentary

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The Value of the Tip-Apex Distance in Predicting Failure of Fixation of Peritrochanteric Fractures of the Hip.

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Metastatic Disease in Long Bones. A Proposed Scoring System for Diagnosing Impending Pathologic Fractures.

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Early versus Delayed Decompression for Traumatic Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: Results of the Surgical Timing in Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study (STASCIS).

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Three-Dimensional Analysis of the Proximal Part of the Humerus: Relevance to Arthroplasty

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Impingement Lesions.

NeerClin Orthop Relat Res19831,827 citationsReview article

Direct Decompressive Surgical Resection in the Treatment of Spinal Cord Compression Caused by Metastatic Cancer: A Randomised Trial.

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The Disabled Throwing Shoulder: Spectrum of Pathology Part III: The SICK Scapula, Scapular Dyskinesis, the Kinetic Chain, and Rehabilitation.

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Cuff-Tear Arthropathy.

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Acetabular Anatomy and the Transacetabular Fixation of Screws in Total Hip Arthroplasty

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Grammont Inverted Total Shoulder Arthroplasty in the Treatment of Glenohumeral Osteoarthritis with Massive Rupture of the Cuff. Results of a Multicentre Study of 80 Shoulders.

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Operative Treatment in 120 Displaced Intraarticular Calcaneal Fractures. Results Using a Prognostic Computed Tomography Scan Classification.

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Rosenberg, Wesley, et al.Ann Surg19821,347 citationsRCT

Anterior Acromioplasty for the Chronic Impingement Syndrome in the Shoulder. 1972.

NeerJ Bone Joint Surg Am1972536 citationsCase series

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Boden, Wiesel, et al.J Bone Joint Surg Am1990668 citationsProspective cohort

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Grammont Reverse Prosthesis: Design, Rationale, and Biomechanics.

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Treatment of Grade IV Fracture-Dislocation of the Hip.

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The SLAC Wrist: Scapholunate Advanced Collapse Pattern of Degenerative Arthritis.

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Classification and an Algorithmic Approach to the Reconstruction of Femoral Deficiency in Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty.

Valle, PaproskyJ Bone Joint Surg Am2003199 citationsRetrospective cohort

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Schatzker, Bruce, et al.Clin Orthop Relat Res19791,029 citationsRetrospective cohort

Surgical Dislocation of the Adult Hip a Technique with Full Access to the Femoral Head and Acetabulum without the Risk of Avascular Necrosis.

Ganz, Berlemann, et al.J Bone Joint Surg Br20011,367 citationsCase series

Predictors of Humeral Head Ischemia after Intracapsular Fracture of the Proximal Humerus.

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Acetabulum Fractures: Classification and Management.

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Surgical vs. Nonsurgical Treatment of Adults with Displaced Fractures of the Proximal Humerus: The PROFHER Randomized Clinical Trial.

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WeberSpine (Phila Pa 1976)19831,149 citationsRCT

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Weinstein, Deyo, et al.JAMA20061,086 citationsRCT

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Editorial: Presidential Address

O'Donoghue·J Sports Med·1973·1 citations·Commentary

|

This is the inaugural presidential address of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), delivered by its first president, Don H. O'Donoghue, in 1973. It is a historical and organizational document that explains why a dedicated orthopedic sports medicine society was created. It is not a scientific study and reports no clinical data.

Key Findings

AOSSM was founded in 1973 with 76 founding members, growing from an initial mailing to 66 interested Academy members. O'Donoghue served as its first president, marking the formal organization of orthopedic sports medicine as a subspecialty.
The society grew out of the AAOS Sports Medicine Committee established in 1962, whose founding members included O'Donoghue, Bruce Brewer, Ed McDonnell, Jack Hughston, and Don Slocum. This committee built the educational infrastructure that AOSSM later expanded.
The committee's postgraduate course program grew from a single course in 1967 to five courses in 1973, with attendance so high it had to be capped in some sessions. This demonstrated the untapped demand that justified a full society.
AOSSM was deliberately structured as a full AAOS affiliate, not a free-standing group, so that inevitable subspecialization would not fragment or dilute the collective influence of orthopedics.
The core rationale is clinical: the athlete is defined as a distinct population who demands complete recovery, where any residual deficit is immediately obvious to patient, physician, and community.
O'Donoghue argues that because athletes are young and healthy, they can tolerate the most definitive treatment available rather than the compromised care often forced by comorbidity in other patients.

Board PearlThe 1973 AOSSM presidential address by Don O'Donoghue marks the formal founding of orthopedic sports medicine as an organized subspecialty.

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