There are increasing numbers of stories and innovative ways in which 3D printing is being used in the medical profession. From component parts of prosthetic limbs to facial reconstructions, there are regular news stories highlighting just how ground breaking some of these developments are.

While these stories are fascinating and uplifting, we don’t hear too often about all the success and changes to people’s lives that more common procedures bring. Hip and knee replacements have become so common now that we tend to forget just how life changing these operations are for people. We also forget the engineering that went in to the design and development of these medical advances and artificial systems originally and the continued development into improvements that goes on today.