[Rehabilitation of the physically handicapped--even today an ongoing task for orthopedics?]

Rehabilitation of disabled people has at all times been an essential element of orthopaedics. The great advances made in orthopaedic surgery over the last few decades have however not resulted in rehabilitative activity having become superfluous. On the contrary, better medical restoration provides a better starting base for vocational rehabilitation. Rehabilitation generally has better technical possibilities today than it used to, which contributes to its being more successful today. Most important of all has however been the progress entailed by a fundamental change in how rehabilitation is conceived: Today, we consider the disabled person a full and equal member of our society, whose integration in competitive employment we mean to foster to the greatest extent possible.