“The clinical material relates to the hips operated on from November 1962, when high density polyethylene replaced Teflon for the acetabular component, to December 1965.” “Any attempt to compare the state of the hip before and after operation by use of numbers has obvious limitations.” 1972.

Charnley’s first publication on the results of the operation demands detailed study. It puts down foundations to so much of the subsequent work on the subject. The detailed clinical assessment, surgical technique, the post-operative care, complications and the results were documented. Uniformity of meaningful terminology is an essential part of scientific communication. Any attempt at pre-operative clinical assessment and documenting the results of surgery must be simple enough to collect and yet detailed to convey the essential information. Whatever the method used there will always be scope for improvement and modification, and above all for the need of “reading between the lines”.