Harry Finkelstein: A Pioneering New York Orthopedic Surgeon

Dr. Finkelstein subsequently concluded that pain was indicative of de Quervain tenosynovitis and published his findings in the 1930 issue of Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.1 Finkelstein's test has since been modified to include gravity-assisted ulnar deviation at the wrist or gentle application of an ulnar deviation force to the hand. Among the prominent physicians he trained were Dr. Emmanuel B. Kaplan, the Hospital for Joint Diseases' second orthopedic resident and who would go on to define the field of hand surgery, and Dr. Henry Milch, who contributed much to the study of deformities of the femur and corrective surgeries for hip ankylosis disability. Interestingly, his son Richard felt the need to change his name in order to get into medical school, as a result of the "quota system" that limited the number of Jewish students admitted.