At some point in life, nearly every person has been or will be affected by muscle or joint pain, a bone break, arthritis, or other musculoskeletal conditions that cause pain and can affect anyone from newborns to the elderly. Conditions ranging from scoliosis, sports injuries, broken hips, bone loss and more can all be addressed by one physician, and that’s an orthopedic surgeon.
What IS an orthopedic surgeon?
These are highly specialized physicians devoted to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders dealing with bones, joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles. In fact many are so specialized that they focus only on particular areas of the body such as hips and knees, foot and ankle, shoulder and elbow, and hand.
What DOES an orthopedic surgeon DO?
Orthopedic surgeons are physicians—with a D.O. or M.D.—trained to diagnose, prevent, and treat disorders, injuries and diseases of the musculoskeletal system using surgical and non-surgical interventions. Orthopedic surgeons treat bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, nerves and tendons. In addition to specializing in specific areas of the body, some physicians also choose to narrow their focus to specialized fields such as trauma, sports medicine, pediatrics, reconstructive surgery or oncology.
What CONDITIONS do orthopedic surgeons treat?
Here are a few issues that bring patients to an orthopedic surgeon:
- Broken bones
- Sports injuries
- Back pain, ruptured disks and spinal stenosis
- Painful joints
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Club foot, bow legs and hip dysplasia
- Orthopedic trauma
- Achilles tendon injuries
- Bunions, bone spurs, foot and ankle injuries
- Osteoporosis
What PROCEDURES do orthopedic surgeons use?
These are some common procedures orthopedic surgeons perform:
- Arthritis Arthroscopy — which utilizes a tiny camera to visualize inside the joint
- Fusion — a procedure that uses rods or other internal devices to fuse bones together
- Internal Fixation – which uses plates, screws or pins to hold broken pieces of bone together
- Joint replacement – removal of a damaged joint and replacement with a partial or complete artificial joint
- Osteotomy —cutting and repositioning the bone to correct a bone deformity
- Soft tissue repair
Orthopedic surgeons are medical doctors who have completed about 14 years of formal education. Board certified orthopedic surgeons commit to continuous learning and testing to maintain their certification.