Robert Jones Lecture, 1979. The reconstructive surgery of flaccid paralysis

A flaccid paralysis results from damage to any part of the lower motor neurone, from destruction of the anterior horn cell by poliomyelitis to injury of the peripheral axon by trauma or disease. Reconstructive surgery can do much to alleviate the residual paralysis. The indications and timing for surgery are considered. Certain well-tried operative techniques are described, from tendon transplantation to arthrodeses of joints, and the relative merits of each procedure are evaluated and placed in perspective.