The ESSKA History

The idea of founding ESKA was born at a meeting held in Berlin in 1982, where a group of interested knee surgeons and arthroscopists discussed the formation of an European society covering these exciting fields of surgery. It was decided to meet regularly and plans were made to hold the first European conference in Berlin in 1984. At this Berlin meeting ESKA was officially founded and its first executive board was elected. The board consisted of Werner Müller, president, Lorden Trickey, vice-president, Ejnar Eriksson, secretary, Peter Hertel, treasurer, and had 8 members at large.

The first conference in Berlin was a great success. It was attended by some 800 participants.

The proceedings were published as a book. It was decided to hold a second conference in Basel, Switzerland, in 1986. Almost 1'000 participants came to this highly successful meeting, the proceedings of which were also available in book form. At this meeting the ESKA board discussed the need to keep the members informed. This resulted in the launching of the ESKA News-Letter. The Storz Company kindly assisted with the publication and mailing of this News-Letter to our members.

There also was a need for a world-wide agreement on how the results of knee surgery should be evaluated. In collaboration with the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), ESKA decided to form a working party with both ESKA and AOSSM members in order to draw up an international evaluation form.

At the third ESKA conference in Amsterdam in 1988, attended by nearly 1'000 delegates, the working party presented the preliminary results of their work.

At the fourth ESKA conference in Stockholm in 1990, attended by 1'265 people, the committee introduced an international standard form for the documentation of knee injuries, currently known as the IKDC (International Knee Documentation Committee). It is widely recognized as a standard in the evaluation of the results of knee surgery and arthroscopy, and its use became mandatory in future publications.

1992 was an important year for ESKA. Ejnar Eriksson organized a world conference on sports trauma in Palma de Mallorca. Together with a number of national and international sports societies, the Palma de Mallorca congress welcomed more than 1'000 delegates interested in sports trauma. In view of this new field of interest it was decided that ESKA should add an S to its logo and become the European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy - ESSKA.

Under the guidance of the board, and thanks to the unfailing efficiency of Professor Ejnar Eriksson, MD, the official journal of ESSKA "Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology and Arthroscopy", saw the light in 1993. In 1995 already the standard of the published material had become so high that the journal was selected by the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, USA to be indexed and included in Index Medicus and MEDLINE.

Papers presented at ESSKA congresses can be accepted for publication in the ESSKA Journal after peer review. Furthermore, authors are encouraged to submit their scientific work to the ESSKA journal.

1994 was the year in which ESSKA went back to it's roots. Since the first ESSKA meeting also took place in Berlin, the Society celebrated it's 10th anniversary in the same conference hall. There were more than 900 participants attended. The next conference was organized by Istvan Berkes in Budapest in 1996 and was a great success.

Under the Guidance of Carl Wirth (ESSKA president) and Pierre Chambat (congress president), the 1998 Congress was held in Nice from April 29 to May 2, with more than 1'300 delegates. The scientific program, organized by Philippe Beaufils, has been interesting and varied and for the first time we had four very successful multicentric symposia dedicated to: knee dislocation, chronic ankle instability, osteonecrosis of the femoral condyles following arthroscopic meniscectomy and the patella in TKR.

The 2000 congress took place in London, in September, under the management of Giancarlo PUDDU (ESSKA's president) and Neil THOMAS (congress' president). The participation to this meeting has been very important and we must note the active participation of numerous orthopaedics surgeons from U.K.

The next conference will take place in Roma from the 23d to the 27 of April 2002.

During the general assembly meeting, it has been decided to change the denomination of our society that becomes ESSKA 2000. This changing should permit to easier the moving of the head office which will now reside in Geneva.

The General Assembly of 2008 in Porto will constitute a further vital step in the development of the society. After 3 years of thorough preparation, the Board proposes to the Assembly to transfer the Head offices of the society to Luxembourg, where the Executive Office is based. There is an overall agreement to follow this path. With this transfer, new by-laws are given to the society, and the name comes back to the original ESSKA.

 

History of ESSKA Presidents

Year & president

2012-2014: Joao Espregueira-Mendes, Portugal

2010-2012: Niek van Dijk, Netherlands

2008-2010: Lars Engebretsen, Norway

2006-2008: Daniel Fritschy, Switzerland

2004-2006: NP Thomas, United Kingdom

2002-2004: KP Benedetto, Austria

2000-2002: P Chambat, France

1998-2000: GC Puddu, Italy

1996-1998: R. Verdonk, Belgium

1994-1996: C.J. Wirth, Germany

1992-1994: G.P. Herrmans, The Netherlands

1988-1992: E. Eriksson, Sweden

1984-1988: W. Müller, Switzerland 

Quicklinks

• KSSTA Journal
• 14th ESSKA Congress OSLO 2010
• 13th ESSKA congress PORTO 2008

ESSKA Congress 2012

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