Orthopedics

Orthopaedic Surgery is a discipline of surgery that is concerned with the axial and appendicular skeleton and its related structures. There are various subspecialties or subdivisions including fractures, arthritides, soft tissue processes, tumors, metabolic conditions, congenital and acquired conditions. A medical student rotation exposes one to various aspects of Orthopaedic Surgery. This rotation should provide a variety of experiences ranging from operative, office and clinical practice and emergency room experience. There are various texts available for medical students interested in reading about Orthopaedic Surgery while on the rotation. These are included at the end of this handout.

People often visit an orthopedic doctor when they’re injured or when they have a chronic condition, such as arthritis or lower back pain.

Orthopedic doctors, often referred to as orthopedic surgeons, focus on helping you with musculoskeletal issues. Their duties include:

• Diagnosing and treating conditions that affect your musculoskeletal system.
• assisting with rehabilitation, which helps you regain movement, strength, range of motion, and flexibility following an injury or surgery
• forming strategies to prevent injury or to keep chronic conditions, such as arthritis, from worsening

While orthopedic doctors know about all parts of the musculoskeletal system, some choose to specialize further. Some subspecialty areas of orthopedics include:

• Spine
• Hip and knee
• Hand
• Shoulder and elbow
• Foot and ankle
• Sports medicine
• trauma surgery

What types of procedures do they do?

Orthopedic doctors recommend a variety of treatments and procedures for the conditions they handle.
Let’s explore some of them in more detail below.

Nonsurgical treatments

These types of treatments are also called conservative treatments. Orthopedic doctors will often focus on nonsurgical treatments first before recommending surgery.
Some types of nonsurgical treatments include:

• Exercises. Your orthopedic doctor may recommend specific exercises or stretches to help maintain or improve your strength, flexibility, and range of motion in a particular area.
• Immobilization. Sometimes preventing additional strain to an area can help it to heal. Examples of immobilization techniques include braces, splints, and casts.
• Medications. Your orthopedic doctor may recommend certain medications to help relieve symptoms like pain and swelling. Some examples include over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and aspirin. They may also prescribe certain prescription drugs like corticosteroids and anti-inflammatory medicine.
• Lifestyle changes. Your orthopedic doctor may also help you with making lifestyle changes. These can involve modifying your physical activity, diet, and the ways you exercise to prevent aggravation of an injury or condition.

Surgical treatments

Sometimes a condition or injury doesn’t improve with conservative measures. In these cases, your doctor may recommend surgery. Some examples of operations performed by an orthopedic surgeon include:

• Joint replacement. Joint replacement surgery involves replacing the parts of a joint that have become damaged or diseased, usually secondary to arthritis. Examples include knee replacement and hip replacement surgery.
• Internal fixation. Internal fixation involves the placement of hardware such as pins, screws, plates, and rods to help hold broken bones in place while they’re healing.
• Fusion. This involves using bone graft material plus some form of internal fixation to connect two bones together. As the bone tissue heals, it fuses into one bone. This technique is often used in neck and spine surgery.
• Osteotomy. Osteotomy is a type of surgery that involves cutting a part of a bone and then repositioning it. This type of surgery may sometimes be used to treat arthritis.
• Soft tissue repair. This kind of surgery is used to repair severely damaged muscles, ligaments, or tendons.
• Release surgery. This is a type of surgery that’s performed for carpal tunnel syndrome. It helps to relieve symptoms by reducing pressure on the median nerve.