Richard von Volkmann: Volkmann's Ischaemic Contracture

Abstract

In the German surgical journal Zentralblatt fur Chirurgie of 1881, Richard von Volkmann wrote; ‘The paralyses and contractures that follow tightly applied bandages, chiefly in the forearm and hand, and less often in the lower extremity, are to be viewed as ischemic. They arise from the arterial supply being interrupted for too long’. The article then goes on to state; ‘contractures of a similar nature also appear after ligatures, avulsions and contusions of large vessels'.