Dr. Oscar Lee Miller was born on a farm in Franklin County, in northeast Georgia [6]. He obtained a teachers’ certificate
and taught school several years after high school before he attended the University of Georgia and then graduated from the
Atlanta College of Physicians and Surgeons (now Emory University School of Medicine) in 1912. He took postgraduate training
in Atlanta, working with Dr. Michael Hoke (whose name is associated with hindfoot arthrodesis). He entered military service
in 1917, then returned to private practice after the armistice. As with other first Presidents of the AAOS, foreign experience
was important, and in 1921 he visited Sir Robert Jones and other British surgeons. Upon returning he moved to Gastonia, North
Carolina and helped develop the North Carolina Orthopaedic Hospital, an institution focusing on crippled children. In 1923,
he opened an office which eventually became the Miller Clinic in nearby Charlotte. (The Miller Clinic and Charlotte Orthopedic
Specialists merged in 2005 to create OrthoCarolina.)
Dr. Miller was active in the AOA as well as the AAOS, and was a member of the Argentine Surgical Association. He became President
of the AAOS in January, 1942, only days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In his Presidential address he emphasized the importance
of the care of crippled children and urged a strong relationship with the Latin American orthopaedic community [1]. He served
as Chair of a committee that created the Inter-American Orthopaedic Fellowship Program, for Latin American surgeons to visit
training centers in the US. He also urged the AAOS to develop a library “as a repository for all pertinent records.” The Executive
Committee outlined a program in June, 1941, to present a “motion picture exhibit,” a feature of the meeting which subsequently
became the Instructional Course Lecture [2]. Under his leadership at that meeting, the AAOS passed a resolution regarding
support of the country during the war years: “It is the desire of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons to offer its
wholehearted support to our Country in this serious emergency.” A telegram with the resolution was sent to the President of
the United States.
Miller had a lasting interest in foot surgery, undoubtedly influenced by Hoke. We reprint here Miller’s report of Hoke’s triple
arthrodesis for paralytic feet [3]. Astonishingly, Miller states this was the only operation performed for paralytic feet
in his clinic over a three-year period, yet he reported 200 cases in this short time; obviously the number of polio patients
at the time was devastating. Among these 200 cases, 121 were of the “clubfoot type,” 62 had pes cavus (on which he wrote in
1927 [4]), and 17 pes calcaneus (on which he wrote in 1936 [5]). Miller reports eight cases of flail feet (although it is
unclear whether these are additional cases, or fall within one of the three categories since the numbers of those categories
add to 200). His focus is to describe the basic operations with indications for supplemental procedures including tendon transfers.
As was often common practice in describing procedures at the time, he did not report the followup results and did not provide
references [3].
Oscar Lee Miller, MD is shown. Photograph is reproduced with permission and ©American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Fifty Years of Progress, 1983.
| 1. |
Heck CV. Commemorative Volume 1933–1983 Fifty Years of Progress. Chicago, IL: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; 1983.
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| 2. |
Heck CV. Fifty Years of Progress: In Recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Chicago, IL: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; 1983.
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| 3. |
Miller O. Two hundred cases of paralytic foot stabilization after the method of Hoke. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1925;7:85–97.
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| 4. |
Miller O. A plastic foot operation. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1927;9:84–91.
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| 5. |
Miller O. Surgical management of pes calcaneus. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1936;18:169–172.
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| 6. |
Oscar Lee Miller 1887–1970. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1971;53:400–401.
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(The Classic Article is ©1925 by the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc. and is reprinted with permission from Miller
OL. Two hundred cases of paralytic foot stabilization after the method of Hoke. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1925;7:85–97.)
*Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Orthopedic Association, May, 1924.