SCHOLARSHIP WINNER ELMAR HERBST

The preparations are already in full swing for the 2020 European Society for Sports Trauma, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ESSKA) International Congress, set to take place in Milan. In addition to lectures and workshops, the Jón Karlsson Award scholarship will be awarded. Össur News was able to talk to one of last year’s winners.

Text: Eva-Lotta Sigurdh Illustration: Love Eneroth

hirty-seven years have passed since a group of knee surgeons met in Berlin and decided to establish a joint European forum for researchers and clinical practitioners in their line of work. The aim was to improve quality of life for patients with sports injuries and other knee and hip-related issues. By bringing together expertise from all over the world and addressing and debating new research in the field, they hoped to speed up the development of surgical techniques and equipment.

THE FIRST CONGRESS, designated ESSKA (European Society for Sports Trauma, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy), took place just two years later in Berlin, and was a success. It attracted more than 800 delegates and has seen steady growth ever since, with conferences taking place alternate years. The most recent, in 2018, was in Glasgow, and hosted 3,200 delegates.

ANOTHER NEW ASPECT of the record-breaking conference in Glasgow was the establishment of Össur’s Jón Karlsson Award, a grant awarded to promising young orthopaedic students with research ambitions. One of last year’s proud winners was German medical student Elmar Herbst, now working as an ST doctor (medical specialist) in knee orthopaedics with a focus on sports injuries at Münster University Hospital. He received the accolade for his studies into the difference it makes to ACL reconstruction patients if they have surgery soon after the injury compared to having to wait a while. He came to the surprising conclusion, compared to previous studies, that the waiting period does not have any short-term impact on the outcome.

“I was pleasantly surprised. So much research has been done into this, so I’m very flattered that my particular study got noticed,” Elmar Herbst comments.

“Yes, he’s been my great example ever since I got started in this field. With his whole fund of

Elmar Herbst

knowledge and long experience, he’s a real guru of the orthopaedic world.”

“An amazing guy. For example, I had the honour of looking after him when he was invited as a guest professor at Pittsburgh University, where I was on a research placement for a while. We did a lot of cool stuff together, like visiting art exhibitions and American football matches. But, more than anything, he showed me how much of a family man he was. He’d promised his daughter a pair of shoes that you could only get there, and we drove around for hours until we found the shop. Those were brilliant, amazing days.”

“I’ve always been interested in sports and I was an active Alpine skier for many years. But I kept getting injured. So, the combination of general interest in diet and exercise, and my constant visits to the emergency department, determined my choice of career. I was fed up with lying on the operating table and wanted to have a more active role in the operating theatre instead.”

“I still love skiing and also do some training with my girlfriend. But, quite honestly, I don’t have a lot of leisure time. But, I’m lucky enough to have a job that I regard as one of my greatest interests.”