LAUSR

The Central and Eastern European Special Issue of International Orthopaedics Journal comes from countries, nations and peoples which long ago were living in mighty powerful empires and for centuries there was a clash between opposing interests and ideas due to various religions, cultures and traditions. The majority of people were suffering poverty and lack of personal liberty, countless died due to various diseases or were killed in numerous wars. Brave people started the liberation process very soon after the French Revolution, went through many socioeconomic and political developments, some gained independence as early as the nineteenth century, still others had to wait until the end of the First World War, and the last ones until the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall. People from this part of the world are now all living and enjoying personal and economic freedom. This Special Issue, with a representative insight of the state of the art in orthopaedics, is a proof that orthopaedic practice, professional career, and scientific work of the majority of the countries from the region are becoming internationally recognisable and comparable with the rest of the world as well. In this Special Issue, we have included papers from Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. The great majority of articles in this Special Issue was “obtained” at the encouragement of editors, while some were included also from the contingent of articles Vane Antolič