Adolf Lorenz was an Austrian orthopedic surgeon who was a native of Weidenau, Austrian Silesia

Austrian Silesia

Austrian Silesia , officially the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia was an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Empire, from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...

 (today Vidnava

Vidnava

Vidnava is a town in Jeseník District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It covers an area of , and has a population of 1,407 ....

, Czech Silesia

Czech Silesia

Czech Silesia is an unofficial name of one of the three Czech lands and a section of the Silesian historical region. It is located in the north-east of the Czech Republic, predominantly in the Moravian-Silesian Region, with a section in the northern Olomouc Region...

). He studied medicine at the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

 and subsequently worked as an assistant to surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

 Eduard Albert

Eduard Albert

MUDr. Eduard Albert , was a Czech surgeon, professor and historian.- Life :Eduard Albert was born in Žamberk, Bohemia in the family of clockmaker František Albert and Kateřina Albertová...

 (1841-1900) in Vienna. In 1901 he was one of the founders of the German Society of Orthopaedic Surgery. He was the father of famed behavioralist Konrad Lorenz

Konrad Lorenz

Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch...

 (1903-1989).

Adolf Lorenz is remembered for his work with bone deformities. As a young surgeon during the 1880s he developed a severe allergic

Allergy

An Allergy is a hypersensitivity disorder of the immune system. Allergic reactions occur when a person's immune system reacts to normally harmless substances in the environment. A substance that causes a reaction is called an allergen. These reactions are acquired, predictable, and rapid...

 skin reaction to carbolic acid, which was used extensively in operating rooms. This condition prevented Lorenz from performing traditional surgical operations. However, he continued in the medical profession as a "dry surgeon", by treating patients without cutting into skin or tissue. Later, Lorenz was given the nickname "The Bloodless Surgeon of Vienna". His techniques became known as bloodless surgery

Bloodless surgery

Bloodless surgery is a term that was popularized at the beginning of the 20th century by the practice of an internationally famous orthopedic surgeon, Adolf Lorenz, who was known as "the bloodless surgeon of Vienna." This expression reflected Lorenz's methods for treating patients with noninvasive...

, reflecting his noninvasive techniques.

Lorenz was renowned for his treatment of congenital dislocation

Dislocation (medicine)

Joint dislocation, or luxation , occurs when bones in a joint become displaced or misaligned. It is often caused by a sudden impact to the joint. The ligaments always become damaged as a result of a dislocation...

 of the hip in children. His technique involved putting the patient under light anesthesia

Anesthesia

Anesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away...

, and placing the child in a plaster

Plaster

Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...

 spica cast in abduction, and then using external rotation as they matured. He also added a specialized walking frame to give the patient a measure of mobility.

He created a manipulative treatment for club feet

Club foot

A club foot, or congenital talipes equinovarus , is a congenital deformity involving one foot or both. The affected foot appears rotated internally at the ankle. TEV is classified into 2 groups: Postural TEV or Structural TEV....

, which involved stretching or breaking the tendon

Tendon

A tendon is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that usually connects muscle to bone and is capable of withstanding tension. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae as they are all made of collagen except that ligaments join one bone to another bone, and fasciae connect muscles to other...

s, ligament

Ligament

In anatomy, the term ligament is used to denote any of three types of structures. Most commonly, it refers to fibrous tissue that connects bones to other bones and is also known as articular ligament, articular larua, fibrous ligament, or true ligament.Ligament can also refer to:* Peritoneal...

s, and epiphyseal plate

Epiphyseal plate

The epiphyseal plate is a hyaline cartilage plate in the metaphysis at each end of a long bone...

s until the foot was properly aligned. Once alignment was achieved, Lorenz applied a cast so that the foot healed in the corrected position. Also, by using traction

Traction (orthopedics)

In orthopedic medicine, traction refers to the set of mechanisms for straightening broken bones or relieving pressure on the spine and skeletal system.There are two types of traction: skin traction and skeletal traction....

 and pulley

Pulley

A pulley, also called a sheave or a drum, is a mechanism composed of a wheel on an axle or shaft that may have a groove between two flanges around its circumference. A rope, cable, belt, or chain usually runs over the wheel and inside the groove, if present...

s, Lorenz developed a mechanism for treatment of scoliosis

Scoliosis

Scoliosis is a medical condition in which a person's spine is curved from side to side. Although it is a complex three-dimensional deformity, on an X-ray, viewed from the rear, the spine of an individual with scoliosis may look more like an "S" or a "C" than a straight line...

.

Due to his fame in orthopedics, he became acquainted with several dignitaries, including U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

. During his travels in the United States, he gave an inspirational exhibition in Dallas, which was a catalyst in the creation of the Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium, which later became the Baylor University Medical Center and Baylor Health Care System.