What is Orthopaedic surgery?
Orthopaedics is a medical specialty focusing on acute injuries, congenital diseases, acquired diseases, and chronic arthritis.
Most orthopaedic surgeons are familiar with all the aspects of the musculoskeletal system. Many surgeons specialize in certain areas like foot and ankle, spine, shoulder, hand, hip, or knee.
The majority also have a particular interest in certain orthopaedic conditions, including:
- Joint reconstruction
- Specific anatomical area (e.g., arm)
- Spine (next to the neurosurgeon)
- Bone tumor surgery
- Rheumatoid surgery
- Sports surgery
- Complex trauma surgery
Pediatric orthopaedics requires a variety of fracture treatments for bone growth and corrective treatment of malformations in children.
How does it function?
The main steps performed by an orthopaedic surgeon are:
- Arthroscopy: A minimally invasive technique that inserts a probe into a joint to diagnose and repair damaged joint tissue (such as ligament rupture or floating cartilage).
- Fracture Repair: Depending on the type, severity, and location of the fracture, various techniques are used to make the bone strong, heal properly, and allow the patient to maintain function. This includes the use of permanent pins and plates, fixings, external pins, and frames.
- Arthroplasty: usually refers to the replacement of the entire joint with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. The most common operations that are experienced by the patients are Hip and knee replacements.
- General procedure for repairing damaged muscles or tendons.
- Orthodontic Surgery: A procedure aimed at correcting anatomical alignment problems that cause movement problems or might turn into a long-term problem if not taken care of.
How do you prepare for the surgery?
As soon as you and your doctor decide on a surgery, you need to learn what you expect from it and create a treatment plan for the best results. Mental and physical preparation for surgery is a significant step towards successful results. The understanding of the process and your role in it will help in faster recovery and have fewer complications.
Before the surgery, your doctor performs a complete body inspection to be certain that you have no conditions that may affect the operation and results. Routine tests such as blood tests and X-rays are usually performed one week prior to any major operation.
What things need to be taken care of before the surgery?
Things to be taken care of
- Talk about all your current medications with your doctor to see if you should avoid them before surgery.
- Discuss options to prepare for potential blood change, including donating your blood, medical intervention, and any other treatment before surgery.
- In case you are overweight, reducing it before the surgery lessens the stress you put on your new joint. But you should avoid dieting one month prior to your surgery.
- If you are taking aspirin, anti-inflammatory drugs, warfarin, or drugs that enhance haemorrhage risk, stop before a week prior to the surgery to minimize bleeding.
- If you smoke, you should reduce it or stop it to minimize the surgery risk.
- Get the problems with teeth, gum, or intestine treated before the operation to reduce the chances of infection.
- Take a balanced diet followed by a daily multivitamin with iron.
- Report all infections to surgeons to avoid any repercussions during or after the surgery.
- Arrange for people who can help with your routine tasks like laundry and cooking.
By taking care of the above-mentioned things, one can undergo the surgery process smoothly.
According to the studies of new joint replacements, surface reconstruction of the hip and shoulder can be done.
Even biological repair has a vast area for research, For example, cartilage transplantation or the use of materials grown from stem cells to replace damaged joint tissue (such as tendons and ligaments).
Computer-aided navigation enables 3D mapping of joints and improves accuracy when seeking rheumatoid arthritis. Sayaa med is one of the best orthopaedic hospitals in Gurugram. Anyone seeking orthopaedic advice or assistance should consult the doctors at Sayaa med.