[Foot surgery yesterday and today].

For decades, all over the world, foot surgery was covered summarily at the tail-end of orthopedic surgical teaching syllabuses. Inevitably, the number of operations with unsatisfactory results was large. On the basis of selected cases, the author points out changes and innovations in indications and techniques which have come about as a result of super-specialization. Our thoughts and actions have also--and not least--been influenced by ideas which originated in southern Europe and the USA.