Introduction

Abstract

I would like to talk a little bit about the title of this book Shoulderology first. This is a coined word by blending “shoulder” and “ology” which means a branch of knowledge. This word seems to be first used in a book entitled Shoulderology! Bustology! published in 1896, written by William Henry Sladdin, a seamster in London. He mentioned the importance of shoulder for men and bust for women when tailoring clothes. Professor Hiroaki Fukuda, late professor of Tokai University, often used this term, such as in a book title An Anthology of Shoulderology commemorating his retirement from the university in 2001 and also in his article “Trends in modern shoulder surgery: personal observations” in J Orthop Sci in 2007 [1]. A summary of Charles S. Neer, II, a world renowned shoulder surgeon, known as the giant of the shoulder, was published in J Shoulder Elbow Surg in 2009. In this article, Dr. Neer was introduced as “Dr. Shoulderology” [2]. A direct translation of shoulderology into Japanese language is “Katagaku,” an unsourced term used here and there. Recently, Dr. Jun Kumagai, Congress President of the 37th Annual Meeting of Japan Shoulder Society in 2010 picked up this word “Katagaku” as a theme of the meeting and presented a mug with the logo “Katagaku” to all the participants. I am sure some of the shoulder surgeons use this mug to drink coffee in the morning, contemplating on the shoulder. Different from shoulder science, shoulderology implies not only the meaning of knowledge and science, but also the meaning of attractivity, charm, or mystery of the shoulder. This book is a culmination of all the works I have done as a shoulder researcher and shoulder surgeon. However, different from other textbooks, I put emphasis on the process, not the outcome. All the new findings started from asking whys. Once you have whys, start literature search, and if no studies have been done regarding your whys, design your own study to find the answer and perform it. During this process, new whys may appear one after another. Try to do the same to these new whys as well. Your research will expand enormously into a wide spectrum. From this book, I would like to convey the message how important and how exciting this process of finding an answer is. I hope the readers would also start enjoying their own search for whys.