Herbert Seddon

Sir Herbert John Seddon (13 July 1903 – 21 December 1977) was an English orthopaedic surgeon.

He was Nuffield Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Oxford, where his work and publications on peripheral nerve injuries gained him an international reputation.

His classification of nerve injuries forms the basis of that in use into the 21st century.

He went on to become director of the new Institute of Orthopaedics in London and subsequently the first Professor of Orthopaedics in the University of London.

In this role he directed basic science research into orthopaedic conditions and developed postgraduate training in orthopaedic surgery.

He went on to study medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, London, graduating MB, BS in 1928 with honours and winning the University Gold Medal.

He was appointed house surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital to Sir Holburt Waring, who, like Seddon, had grown up in Lancashire.

He was then house surgeon to Reginald Elmslie, who had been one of the first surgeons in Britain to specialise in orthopaedic surgery.

Seddon then took up a surgical post at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1930 and the following year he became surgeon in residence at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospita (RNOH) at Stanmore, Middlesex.

During his nine years at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (1931–1940) he cared for children with poliomyelitis.

In January 1940 Seddon was appointed to the Nuffield Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Oxford.

He was given the degree of Doctor of Medicine (DM) and Master of Arts from the University of Oxford on appointment to the chair.

In addition he became a professorial fellow of Worcester College, Oxford and for clinical duties he became clinical director at the Wingfield-Morris Hospital, later renamed the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC) and subsequently part of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The war years were to prove difficult for him personally as his family remained in the United States for the duration of the Second World War.

This was first published in 1942 and his subsequent 1943 publication became a standard work on the topic.

Because of his experience in the treatment of polio he was asked by the British government to travel to Malta to advise on the management of an epidemic of this infection in Malta and he travelled there on three occasions between 1943–1945.

He was also asked by the Governor of Mauritius to advise on an outbreak there.

In addition to treating patients, he advised on physiotherapy services, arranged splint workshops and made suggestions about the rehabilitation for those left disabled by the disease.

Among his practical contributions to management of the condition was the development of splints for the condition, and his 1947 paper on the subject came to be regarded as a leading work on the topic and was widely followed.

At Stanmore, he researched Pott's disease, caused by tuberculosis of the vertebrae, and its complications including spinal deformity and spinal cord compression.

He clarified the pathogenesis of paraplegia in Pott's disease, demonstrating that it was not always caused by the kyphosis, but in the early stages was caused by the intervertebral abscess pressing back against the spinal cord.

This led to the appreciation that the cause of the paraplegia was reversible, if diagnosed and treated early.

This transformed the outlook of many patients who developed early, acute paraplegia from this cause.

He also developed workshops for patients with orthopaedic disability, which taught them new skills and new trades.

During his Oxford years he continued the work on peripheral nerve injuries which he would develop further in London.

He established the Peripheral Nerve Injury Unit at Oxford and headed this for the duration of his time in Oxford.

This unit collaborated on nerve injury research with two young biologists, J.Z.Young, who reported a successful technique for nerve repair in rabbits, and Peter Medawar, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize.

Seddon's classification of nerve injuries came to be adopted internationally.

He used the terms neurapraxia, axonotmesis and neurotmesis which had been coined by Lord Cohen of Birkenhead.

These were based on the severity of the nerve injury, which in turn influenced the anticipated time for recovery and the prognosis.

In 1948 he was appointed Director of Postgraduate Studies at the new Institute of Orthopaedics at the University of London and Clinical Director of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.

The monograph which he edited for the Medical Research Council in 1954 became widely used to teach British medical students the principles of nerve injury.

In 1960 he examined Winston Churchill at the request of Lord Moran, Churchill's physician.

He was President of the British Orthopaedic Association, and was knighted in 1964 for services to orthopaedics.

Herbert Seddon was born in Derby, the son of John Seddon, and his wife Ellen Seddon (née Thornton).

He grew up in Manchester and went to school at William Hulme's Grammar School.

in 1965 he was made the first Professor of Orthopaedics in the University of London.

Here he directed research into basic science relevant to orthopaedic disease and he became a member of the Medical Research Council for four years.

With his deputy director J.I.P.James he developed innovative postgraduate teaching programmes in orthopaedics which came to be highly regarded nationally and internationally.

Because of his previous experience of polio in developing countries he served on the Advisory Medical Council of the Colonial Office.