In 1917, he was appointed as associate professor at University of Berlin and in 1924 he was made director of the Institute of Physiology at University of Freiburg-im-Breisgau. The university was completely destroyed in an aerial raid in 1944, but Hoffmann later continued his work in a new building, until he retired in 1954.[1][2]
It was in March and August 1915 just few months before Jules Tinel when Hoffmann published two articles in journal Medizinische Klinic describing a method of evaluating success of nerve sutures and nerve regeneration. The sign termed as (H- sign) Hoffmann's sign was elicited by tapping distal to the site of injured nerve which produced tingling sensation, the sensation was neither permanent nor severe.[4][5][6] In October 1915, Jules Tinel described the same phenomenon in French "le signe de fourmillement".[7][8]
Hoffman did not get enough credit in spite of being the first one to describe this sign because after the end of the war, Tinel's research gained more popularity and in all regions outside Germany where the sign is known as Tinel's sign.[1]
References
^ abcdPeter J. Koehler; George W. Bruyn; John M. S. Pearce (26 October 2000). Neurological Eponyms. Oxford University Press. pp. 136–140. ISBN978-0-19-513366-0. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
^Hoffmann P. Ueber eine Methode, den Erfolg einer Nervennaht zu beurteilen. Med Klin. 1915;11:359-360.
^Hoffmann P. Weiteres über das Verhalten frisch regenerierter Nerven und über die Methode, den Erfolg einer Nervennaht friihzeitig zu beurteilen. Med Klin. 1915;! 1:856-858.
^Hoffmann P, Buck-Gramcko D, Lubahn JD. The Hoffmann-Tinel sign. 1915. J Hand Surg Br 1993;18:800–805.
^Tinel, J. (1915) Le signe du fourmillement dans les lésions des nerfs périphériques. Presse médicale, 47, 388-389
^Tinel, J. (1978) The "tingling sign" in peripheral nerve lesions (Translated by EB Kaplan). In: M. Spinner M (Ed.), Injuries to the Ma jor Branches of Peripheral Nerves of the Forearm. (2nd ed.) (pp 8-13). Philadelphia: WD Saunders Co