Eponymous hip joint approaches.

After the low friction arthroplasty by John Charnley was no longer confined to specialized hospitals but commonplace in the general orthopedic practice, the issue remained how to most optimally reach the hip. The names of the authors of these approaches remain in a lot of cases connected to the approach. By evaluating the original articles in which the approaches are described we ascertain the original description and technique. By various sources we obtained the (short) biography of the people whose name is connected to the approach. Our research covers the biographies of colleagues Smith-Petersen, Watson-Jones, Hardinge, Charnley, Moore and Ludloff. The eponymous approaches are shown and described after the short biography on each individual. This study shows that without the work of our colleagues we cannot proceed in our profession. An understanding and knowledge of the people who dedicated themselves to developing the orthopedic surgery to the high standard it has today is the least honour we should give them.