An Orthopedic Guide: 4 Most Common Orthopedic Disorders
To thrive in life you need three bones, a wishbone, a funny bone, and a backbone as well. As the interlinking network of your body's musculoskeletal system, your backbone, or spine serves as your intermediate support system.
The Greek word "ortho", meaning straight or erect, is used as a prefix for most medical terms. Example: Orthopena (easy breath in upstanding position), orthodontics ( teeth straightening), orthopaedics (straightening the baby), orthostatic (an upstanding position), etc.
Orthopedic (or orthopaedic) is assigned to the branch of therapeutic, or medical sciences that research, diagnose, and work for the prevention & betterment of the musculoskeletal system.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 1.71 billion people worldwide are suffering from musculoskeletal issues. Among all the musculoskeletal conditions, lower back pain is causing the higher contribution to disabilities widely ranging in 160 countries.
Orthopaedics is a field that strives to care for the overall musculoskeletal system, including nerves, muscles, tendons, bones, ligaments, and joints affected by both natural health conditions and diseases as well.
Fortunately, the good news is, an orthopaedic doctor is all it takes for your bones to fall in love again with each other, along with a tagline of 'No pain, No gain'. Thereby revealing all the pain, restoring movements, flexibility, alignment of motion, and strength is what an orthopaedic doctor does.
Did you know, over 85-90% of the population aged around 70 faces this problem of rubbing bones against each other which restricts their normal daily activities? Let us dive into deeper causes and techniques to fix this abnormal condition. This article refers to the 4 most common orthopaedic conditions with their causes and treatments:
1. Arthritic Condition:
Were you ever curious to know why your grandmother or grandfather finds it difficult to get up steadily? The reason is arthritis, in company with other rheumatic disorders which limits the movement of affected frames of the body.
Arthritis attacks the connecting tissues of the bone which terminates the routine activities causing pain, stiffness, loss of mobility, redness and swelling of a joint, a condition known as osteoarthritis.
Treatment: The foremost treatment for arthritis is a healthy diet, quitting smoking, and breaking off the drinking habits of alcohol. Ingesting an adequate amount of vitamin D (preserving bone density), calcium, calories, and proteins are expected.
Altogether, anti-inflammatory drugs (steroidal & non-steroidal), physical remedial treatment, and cortisone immunization may ease the pain.
2. Bursitis:
Bursitis (or Bursa inflammation) is a painful type of shoulder joint inflammation. Bursitis is a temporary state of pain, unlike arthritis, that is irreversible damage.
However, septic bursitis is an uncommon type of joint swelling, which if left untreated, can cause a permanent expansion of the bursa; severe chronic pain and inflammation as a consequence.
Muscle atrophy, another aftermath of untreated bursitis, if left untreated, can lead to lessen daily activities and even dropping out of the corresponding muscle.
Treatment: Consult an orthopaedic surgeon, your doctor might prescribe an antibiotic depending upon the infection spread. Other treatments include corticosteroid drug injection, physical therapy (exercises), diagnosis, or surgery.
3. Fractures:
A fracture is something that sets forth severe pain without making any noise. It is therefore a complete or sectional break in the bone. When the bone is unable to bear the unconventional force exerted on it, it breaks.
To fix the bones in proper alignment as it were, you must appoint an orthopaedic surgeon to untwist the affected bones. Fractures bisect and dissect the skin or bones, and therefore classified as simple fracture and compound fracture.
A simple fracture (or closed) fracture is the dissection of bone where the skin is intact. On the other hand, a compound fracture (open fracture) is when the bone pokes out of the skin.
Treatment: Relying upon the type of fracture caused and its severeness, treatments include, plaster cast, splints, traction, insertion of metal plate or rod, braces (to support the bone), etc.
4. Paget Disease Of the Bone:
The torturing or deformation of the bones which leads to chronic bone disorder is termed as Paget disease of the bone. It's a condition where the bones are forced to become dense, yet fragile.
Adults aged 50 or above, carry the chances of falling into this messy trap, however, the meticulous cause of this disease is unknown.
Treatment: Medications like bisphosphonates are injected directly into the vein or oral medicines like osteoporosis drugs are prescribed for oral intakes.
Paget disease is also considered to be one of the life-threatening cancerous bone diseases. One must not be uncertain about its symptoms, even after several pieces of research of the 21st century; currently, there is no cure for Paget's disease of the bone.
It is said that doctors wound the damage, but God heals it, likewise, orthopaedic surgeons don't believe in disease, they strive to treat the patient who's suffering the disease. Trust the reassuring words of doctors because they are more powerful than medicines.