What is orthopedic surgery?
Orthopedic surgery is a field of surgery that aims to resolve various disorders of the skeletal and locomotor system (or reduce their symptoms). The problems it treats may affect the bones, cartilage structures or joints.
The problems treated by orthopedic surgery can affect
bones, cartilaginous structures or joints.
What pathologies does it treat?
Below are some examples of the pathologies treated:
- Foot injuries: metatarsalgia, big toe valgus, pes cavus, flat feet, hammertoes.
- Hand injuries: for example, scaphoid rupture, carpal tunnel injury, De Quervain’s syndrome, osteoarthritis of the thumb (rhizarthrosis), stenosing tenosynovitis (finger snapping).
- Knee injuries, meniscus or ligament injuries, or knee osteoarthritis.
- Shoulder injuries (e.g. rotator cuff).
- Hip injuries (e.g., osteoarthritis of the hip).
- All types of traumatic injuries.
What are the subspecialties of orthopedic surgery?
Emergency surgery can be considered a subspecialty of orthopedic surgery. This type of surgery deals with the emergency treatment of patients with traumatic injuries, who have suffered acute trauma. Here are some examples:
- Cut wounds.
- Gunshot wounds.
- Traffic accidents
- Household accidents of various types
- Work accidents.
When should I consult an orthopedic surgeon?
In case the patient suffers from any of the diseases described above, it is advisable to contact an orthopedic surgeon, who will be able to assess the need or not of a surgical intervention. In addition, this specialist is also a surgeon, so he can intervene directly when the situation requires it.