The contribution of intellectuals to the history of traumatology during the Renaissance: treatment of femoral fracture through François Rabelais' glossocomion.

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, intellectuals often included clinical cases and medical descriptions in their literary works. These authors appeared to be more interested in internal and infectious diseases rather than in musculoskeletal disorders and orthopaedics. François Rabelais (1490-1553) was one of the most renowned humanists and philologists of the sixteenth century. He was also a physician with an interest in translating ancient texts of medical authors. Rabelais rediscovered a device for treating femoral fracture originally described by the Roman physician Galen and named as glossocomion. Since the original apparatus had some imperfections, Rabelais redesigned and modified it. This new, improved version became a model for new devices for treating femoral fracture, as also reported by the great French surgeon Ambroise Paré. For this contribution, Rabelais deserves major consideration in the history of orthopaedics and traumatology.

Magnetic resonance neurography of peroneal palsy in crossed-legs habit: case report.

"Drop foot" palsy attributed to the prolonged and repetitive maintenance of the crossed-leg posture has been occasionally reported. We report, to the best of our knowledge, the first case of magnetic resonance imaging evidence of peroneal nerve abnormalities related to right drop-foot palsy in a tall healthy subject with habit of prolonged daily leg crossing.