It all began in the 1950s, when a group of visionary surgeons came together to turn upend traditional bone fracture healing methods. They championed revolutionary techniques of internal fixation, and in 1958, established the AO Foundation, which has stood for pioneering spirit and innovation ever since.
The founders based their activities on four pillars: the development of implants and instruments, research into fracture healing, patient documentation, and teaching osteosynthesis techniques. Thereby, they created an effective approach to holistic patient care and paved the way for the AO's sustainable relevance.
When AO founders Maurice E Müller and Martin Allgöwer introduced what later became the AO's flagship educational event, 69 surgeons came to Davos, Switzerland for a four-day course to learn the new surgical techniques considered experimental at the time. Today, the annual AO Davos Courses attract more than 1,500 health care professionals from over 80 countries every year.
After conducting numerous educational events worldwide, the AO was now formally established as an international organization. Today, the AO has a global network of over 200,000 health care professionals. Each year it offers over 830 educational events around the world, which are supported by nearly 9,000 faculty and are attended by over 58,000 participants.
With increasing specialization, various clinical divisions had emerged and developed their own dedicated communities and targeted activities. Gradually, one specialty after another was established as an AO clinical division, most recently AO Trauma in 2008.
A global needs assessment survey initiated by the AO Trauma Educational Commission and involving with more than 4,000 participants revealed an immense and insufficiently addressed need for arthroplasty education. The rising numbers of arthroplasty and periprosthetic fracture cases called for specialized education and expert advice in this field.
AO Recon celebrated its debut event at the annual meeting of the Chinese Orthopaedic Association (COA) in Beijing, China. The all-day seminar, titled "Basic Principles in Hip and Knee Joint Reconstruction," attracted more than 1,000 participants. The international faculty board included key opinion leaders who are still very active with AO Recon today. The event also marked AO Recon's first collaboration with an orthopedic association.
The AO Recon Education Forum, a group of surgeons nominated by the AO Recon Steering Board lead development of AO Recon's educational content, met in London for the first time. These experts involved are key opinion leaders in the field of joint preservation and replacement. Together, they form the AO Recon Education Delegation (later renamed the AO Recon Education Forum). With visionary thinking and a deep understanding of global needs, they will make a significant contribution to AO Recon's future success.
With an intense workshop in Prague, this task force started its work: This group of expert arthroplasty surgeons develops AO Recon’s educational content based on the needs of defined target learners and content scope, resulting in a curriculum from which courses are derived. The curriculum task force formed in 2014 today deals with hip and knee arthroplasty. Additional curriculum task forces on other topics would follow.
A number of key AO surgeons took the initiative to meet the increased need for arthroplasty education. Today, the initiators from that time—Dan Berry (United States), Norbert Haas (Germany) and Carsten Perka (Germany)—are members of the Steering Board, along with Keith Mayo (US). They lead AO Recon as a network of orthopedic surgeons delivering best-in-class education in joint preservation and replacement.
AO Recon's first course took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as part of the AO Regional Courses, the largest educational event of its kind in the Middle East. The AO Recon Course—Principles of Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty included lectures, case discussions and preoperative planning exercises, presented by an international faculty. Updated and supplemented by hands-on exercises, the course is now one of three curriculum-based courses that AO Recon today offers.
Chaired by former AO President Norbert Haas (Germany) and Yan Wang (China), the course took place in Guangzhou, China. With 60 participants from all over China, the course was fully booked. AO Recon was just at the very beginning of meeting the immense demand for arthroplasty education in Asia.
The joint symposium marked the first of a series of events where the two AO disciplines joined forces. Trauma and reconstructive surgeons presented a holistic approach to the overlapping topics of trauma and revision arthroplasty and set an example for future collaboration. The event took place at the International Combined Congress Meeting of the Combined Orthopaedic Associations (COMOC) in Cape Town, South Africa.
With the support of former AO President Jaime Quintero, the upcoming course in Bogotá, Colombia, spread so quickly that the 60 seats were taken in no time. Course chairpersons Bas Masri (Canada) and Nicolás Restrepo (Colombia) received positive participant feedback on content and faculty. This and the remaining waiting list of interested surgeons suggested the desire for additional events in the region.
With a dedicated session, AO Recon marked its entry into the field of shoulder arthroplasty. Expert surgeons addressed shoulder disorders to an interested audience at the International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT) World Congress in Rome, Italy. One of them, Stefaan Nijs (Belgium), is on the AO Recon shoulder curriculum taskforce today.
In AO Recon's first webinar, expert surgeons Carsten Perka (Germany) and Jean-Noël Argenson (France) gave free advice on total knee arthroplasty to a global audience and answered participants’ questions via live chat. Since then, AO Recon’s regular webinars have offered an excellent opportunity to disseminate knowledge around the globe.
The course premiered during the renowned AO Davos Courses, delivering advanced knowledge to experienced surgeons. Like the principles course on total hip and knee arthroplasty, the course content was derived from a curriculum developed by AO Recon surgeons with the support of the AO Education Institute.
The jointly developed curriculum was a huge milestone in AO Recon's successful collaboration with AO Trauma. The resulting course combines faculty from both disciplines and offers bundled knowledge on the goal of optimal patient care. The educational offering made its debut at the AO Davos Courses, followed by global rollout.
AO Recon expanded its educational offerings with an innovative hands-on learning experience. At multiple stations course participants perform a surgical step with dry-bone models under instruction from the expert faculty. After its premiere in Szeged, Hungary, the AO Recon Skills Lab was introduced worldwide and is now an integral part of the AO Recon Course—Principles of Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty.
During the AO Davos Courses 2018, AO Recon for the first time offered exercises and dissections of anatomical specimens. In the framework of the "AO Trauma/AO Recon Course—Comprehensive Periprosthetic Fracture Management" participants performed a complete surgical procedure under conditions that are very close to daily practice.
The AO's governing body, the AO Foundation Board, granted AO Recon the status of a clinical unit that complements the AO's clinical divisions as an increasingly relevant specialty. Five years after its start as an initiative, AO Recon has become an inherent part of the AO.
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