Surgical operations on the musculoskeletal system are what defines Orthopedic Surgery. If you suffer from an Orthopaedic condition, an Orthopaedic surgeon or practitioner should be able to help and advise you in this respect. Nevertheless, as with any ‘medical’ condition, you are primarily and ultimately responsible for your own physical, mental and emotional well being. It is thus necessary for you to discuss your condition and its various treatment options with him or her in order to select what, for you, would be the best line of management for the condition.
Conditions affecting the musculo-skeletal system generally cause one or more of the following complaints – pain, loss of function and deformity – and Orthopedic treatments are given with the aim of managing whichever of these problems are present. These treatment options are set out, in principle, underneath. The treatments available may take one or more of several possible forms but are generally classified into ‘non-operative’ (or ‘conservative’ methods) and those termed ‘operative’ methods.