Are you familiar with Nicolas Andry? Arthroscopy? Or Prosthesis? Perhaps most of you aren’t. Those are some of the basic terms in orthopedics, and if you’re going to finish this article, you’ll be able to obtain a bountiful of knowledge about this particular field of medicine.
Let’s begin with Nicolas Andry. He played a major role in the early history of orthopedics. He was the first one to introduce the word ‘orthopedia’ in 1741, in his book Orthopaedia, or the art of preventing and correcting deformities in children. The terminology Nicolas used were derived from two Greek words; orthos, meaning straight and pais, meaning child.
Great developments were seen in this specific branch of medicine and after a long period of time, orthopedics is not only about children.
Orthopedics focuses on the diseases and injuries of the bones or muscles. If a bone is broken, it would develop new growth in order to correct the fracture and fill in any areas from which bone is removed, since bone is a living and functioning part of the body.
For that reason, a bone that’s deformed from birth can be operated, cut, braced, or treated to generate a normal form. If a broken bone is held in alignment, it will heal without any physical deformity.
History
Even in the prehistoric ages, humans have had to deal with broken or deformed bones. It’s evident in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that people wrapped and braced a limb in order to heal normally.
Wars are common during those times and it happened on a much larger scale. The soldiers also used more competent weapons. This result in fractures and other bone injuries to become more prevalent.
Interestingly, advances in orthopedics made a great uproar in the field of medicine as surgeons shortly invented simple prosthesis to replace limbs that were amputated because of a grave wound.
Orthopedists in the earlier times were very committed in their field. It’s no doubt that their legacy remained into our modern orthopedists. Birth defects such as scoliosis and clubfoot have also been the main concern of the former orthopedists. But it doesn’t stop there, those physicians also included within their specialty the dislocations, fractures, and trauma to the spine and skeleton. Orthopedics had been a physical specialty for several years.
After manipulating bones and joints to restore alignment, orthopedists including Dr. Howard Marans will apply casts or braces to maintain its structure while waiting for it to heal. While the fracture heals on its own, the patient is advised to be more comfortable as possible to avoid further injuries. However, in some cases, the healing process was incomplete and affect the patient with a lifetime handicap that can make walking or bending difficult.
Modern developments
In order for the bone fragments to heal better, a special nail was invented in the 1930s to hold them. On the other hand, the head of a femur that is a part of the hip joint and that wouldn’t often heal after being fractured can be replaced with a metal device that was developed a couple of years after the nail, then a total artificial hip joint was invented after that. Revisions and improvements are still being made by the orthopedists to allow an individual to maximize the use and flexibility of the leg.
Orthopedists utilize physical methods to align fractures and repair damaged joint. Braces and casts are still being used to hold injured bones in place while they heal. To ensure that the bones are aligned properly and that there’ll be a better healing process, orthopedic specialists now use x-rays.
Crushed bones that have a little chance of healing on their own could be treated by Dr. Howard Marans through transplanting bits of bone from other locations in the body to fill fractured areas. He and other orthopedists use drills, screwdrivers, screws, staples, nails, chisels, and other tools to operate the bone and connect pieces with one another.
Most of the bone deformities these days could be corrected. Deformed facial bones can be replaced or reshaped. Bone transplants from one person to another is a usual thing. Grave diseases like cancer may bring terrible results to patients, such as losing a limb, but Howard Marans MD can provide a normal-appearing prosthesis for them to have a near-normal life. He can teach them on how to use it, and it’s also fitted so it’s convenient to use.
The patients that have lost limbs due to traumatic injuries, vascular diseases, diabetes, cancer or congenital disorders could get prosthetics through orthopedic surgeons. Prosthetics refers to the design, fabrication, and fitting of custom-built artificial limbs or other assistive devices.
These devices could restore the function and appearance of a full or partial missing limb as completely as possible. He also added that the creation of prosthesis is a very complicated and custom procedure that requires a high degree of skill coupled with advanced technology due to the huge differences in human anatomy.
Arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, epicondylitis, and osteoporosis are among the list of degenerative diseases that orthopedists were trained to treat. Treatment options include diet changes, exercise, steroid injections, as well as surgical procedures and hormone replacement therapy.
Arthroscopy and joint replacement are some of the recent technological advances that helped a lot of orthopedic patients around the globe. Several orthopedic surgical procedures don’t need an open incision to completely expose the joint. Flexible arthroscopes can now be inserted through a small incision in the skin and then into a joint, and after that, it can be manipulated through the joint to locate and determine the nature of the injury. Arthroscopy can be used to look into many joints of the body, such as knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows, and wrists.
Dr. Howard Marans and his affiliates are committed to treating all patients in a professional and timely manner. They surely are a promising team because they can provide prompt care utilizing established orthopedic treatments and innovative surgical and arthroscopic procedures.
That’s it! This sum up most of the facts about orthopedics. Hoped this article helped you in understanding this particular field of medicine.
