ABSTRACT
This deformity of the proximal femur, classically associated with fibrous dysplasia, was described by Friedrich von Recklinghausen’ (1833–1910) in 1891. His patient was a 66-year-old woman who came to medical attention because of a pneumonia. On physical examination she was noted to have a ‘shepherd’s crook curvature [hirtenstabformige] of both femurs.’ The cause of the femoral deformity in this woman was not explained. The ray that would shed light on many of the unknowns for physicians, the X-ray, was discovered 4 years later.
