We flew from Lyon to Luxembourg on the evening of Tuesday, April 24th and were welcomed by Professor Romain Seil, his wife Caroline, and our tour guide Roland. They graciously welcomed us and we headed north from Luxembourg City to Diekirch, home to the National Museum of Military History – which documents the events of World War II in the region. Although it was closed, Professor Seil happened to have the former museum director with us, so we had a private tour of the museum. We then drove to the (now) vacation town of Clervaux, where we had a traditional Luxembourg dinner (and drinks) before turning in for the night.
The next day, we started our tour though WWII history as we visited Dasburg, an important bridge crossing during the war, and then crossed over into Bastogne, Belgium, the city at the center of the Battle of the Bulge. We visited the Mardasson Museum and Memorial, honoring the memory of American soldiers who died in the Battle of the Bulge and who stood in “fox holes” in the woods where the Army’s Easy Company held their ground prior to their offensive. We then toured the 101st Airborne Museum, chalked full of medical artifacts recovered from war, before heading back to Luxembourg City for our scientific session.
Professor Seil and his department presented a great scientific session, educating us on state of the art ACL functional rehabilitation testing techniques, treatment of often overlooked meniscus lesions, as well as their approach to osteotomies around the knee. The evening concluded with a spectacular meal at a Michelin-rated restaurant within the Old City of Luxembourg.
The following morning, we visited the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg to watch Dr. Seil perform a variety of arthroscopic and open knee procedures. We were able to interact with him throughout the cases, and had interactive didactic session between cases to discuss new paradigms and thinking regarding the treatment of sports medicine conditions of the knee.
To top it all off, we had a moving visit to the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, where over 5,000 American soldiers who died in the region during WWII are buried - including General Patton - before heading to the airport to catch our flight to Barcelona.
We want to thank Professor Seil and all our hosts in Luxembourg for their wonderful hospitality and for taking the time to host the tour. We could not have had a better time in Luxembourg and will certainly not forget our experiences.
Geoffrey Abrams, MD
Assistant Professor
Stanford University
AOSSM gratefully acknowledges DJO Global for their support of the Traveling Fellowship program.