March 19, 2024

Orthopedics – moving towards a healthier lifestyle

orthopedic specialty clinic

There has been a significant advancement in the field of medicine in the past decade. It has started focusing more on the day to day problems that people face which hinders their daily routines. Perfect health is one of the biggest blessings in life, however, even a small change that impacts your daily movement can have a great impact on your life, be it physical or mental. Addressing this change, surgeries are no more an extraordinary procedure that people go towards only if it’s a lethal case. Surgeries are now done much more frequently and in all fields. Likewise, in orthopedics, if there is an anomaly, the person’s movement is greatly affected. Be it the tendon, muscle or even the bone, there is a specific procedure that can correct the problem and make the patient move without any hindrance. To give you an idea of how orthopedics can change your life, here are a few commonly performed procedures.

orthopedic specialty clinicJoint replacement surgery

This is one of the most common procedures in orthopedics. The majority of people get knee and hip joint problems at least once in their lifetime (especially after 50 years of age). Even though there are a lot of joints in the body, on which joint replacement surgery can be performed but hip and knee are the most commonly affected ones. In this surgery, the problematic areas of the joint are removed and replaced by synthetic ones. It ensures better functionality with no pain. The procedure itself, like all other surgeries, is painless as you are under general anesthesia. However, it is imperative to go to a good orthopedic specialty clinic. If not performed by a skilled surgeon, the body may not accept the replacement causing inflammation and more pain.

Revision joint surgery

You will go for this procedure after a fracture or an infection. Basic aim of debridement is to remove the infected tissue/bone to aid faster healing and a better wound formation. Ideally, it is done in combination with irrigation and hence known as I & D. You can try understanding it as a washout technique, where all the small bone fragments after an infection or all the infectious tissue is drained out of the site leaving healthy tissue behind for healing.

Spinal fusion

This is for people that have gone through a back injury. It is performed to stabilize the spinal cord to reduce pain. Spinal fusion is done with the help of screws, rods and other prostheses. However, the mechanism is exactly that of a broken bone healing by remodeling. You may be concerned about the restricted movement after this procedure, but in actual, its only 2 vertebrae fused which won’t make a significant difference. You may experience slight pain and discomfort after the procedure. However, in the long run, this permanent solution to your back pain and the restricted movement that followed is worth it.

Soft tissue repair

This procedure is very common with sportsmen. You must have heard of tendon tears in football or muscle tear in cricket. Soft tissue repair is what all these people go for after the trauma. This procedure consists of two sub-steps, regeneration and repair. This procedure can be performed in 2 ways as well. One is the conventional open method, where the surgeon gets a direct clear view of the traumatized tissue with the help of incisions. The other method is also known as the minimum invasive technique such as arthroscopy. The second procedure is more technical and requires great skillset, thus while choosing your orthopedic specialty clinic, make sure you have done good research.

Osteotomy

As the name suggests, this procedure cuts down the bone to remodel the structure. Osteotomy is most commonly done in bony deformities. It can be something as big as a spinal bone deformity or even the smallest of the kind which also happens to be very common, big toe bone anomaly. These small malformations can make the simplest tasks a challenge for you, for example, big toe bone protrusion will not allow you to wear all kinds of footwear, especially closed. For this, you have to get your custom made to distribute the pressure. Thus, a small surgery like osteotomy can help you get rid of everyday problems that can prove to be a nuisance.

Bone fusion

Well, this is something most of you would’ve already gone through, bone fractures. Most common sites are long bones, for example, hands, legs, etc. it has a very simple solution to it which is the cast. It stabilizes the hand, allowing the bones to come together and fuse by the natural phenomena of regeneration and repair. However, if the fracture is big and comminuted, there might be a need to use external fixers like screws, plates, and rods. The purpose of these fixers is again to stabilize the bone and proximate them to allow the natural bone regeneration process.

Orthopedics incorporates all the procedures discussed above and maybe a few more complex ones. Some have been followed for the longest of times, for example, the cast. The others, however, are relatively new and you might be a little hesitant about them. But what we need to understand is that now medicine and surgery aims to treat everyday problems as well thus the mindset of surgeries being linked to lethal problems needs to be changed. Going for surgery for even the smallest inconvenience like the big toe malformation will help you live a quality, pain-free life.

One thing that you need to keep in mind while selecting an orthopedic specialty clinic is the staff and doctors who would treat you. Do your research well, be vocal about your problems and then see how orthopedic changes your life!