Abstract: For face-down operations, a head and chin rest can stand on the flat bed of an operating table and has a frame including cushioned forehead and chin supports, the frame being pivotable to raise or lower the chin support relative to the forehead support. The forehead and chin supports are spaced to make the patient's face almost fully accessible, and that spacing is adjustable to allow for heads of various sizes. Preferably the base which supports the frame has a rocker base, thus permitting the patient to pivot the head and chin rest with his head to the most comfortable attitude, after which the rocker base can be wedged, such as with a small towel.

Abstract: For operations in the prone sitting position, the novel kneeling attachment has a lower-leg platform from which one or a pair of posts project downwardly to rest against the floor to support the lower portion of the patient's body while his or her upper body is moved up or down relative to the buttocks by vertically moving the operating table. After thus adjusting the attitude of the patient's backbone, the lower-leg platform is locked, and the operating table can be moved to whatever height is most comfortable to the surgeon. The lower-leg platform of the kneeling attachment includes cushioning which is formed with two longitudinal channels that conform to the lower legs of a patient. A spacing between the lower-leg platform and the foot of the operating table leaves the kneecaps substantially unsupported, so that the patient's weight primarily rests on the tibial plateaus.

Abstract: A bone impactor consists of a single piece of lightweight metal which has a handle and a smooth shank, across the tip of which extends a working surface that forms a symmetrical cylindrical concavity that may be fitted against an excrescence, followed by striking the butt end of the handle to compress the excrescence into the bone to relieve pressure on a nerve. The edges of the working surface are radiused to minimize cutting. That bone impactor preferably is one of a set of four, the working surface of the second impactor being rectangular and that of the third being circular, while the handle and shank of the fourth impactor have a uniform, rectangular cross section.

Abstract: A Taylor-type force-fulcrum retractor has a broad malleable band which is readily shaped by hand to fit any situation and yet holds that shape against forces that may be applied to pull the muscles away from the center of an incision. The force-fulcrum retractor is particularly useful in spinal surgery and may have a claw-like spike or spikes which penetrate the surface of a bone within the incision to establish an extraordinarily secure fulcrum.