Do You Need An Orthopedic Surgeon? Why You Might

After a certain age, many Americans see it as an inevitable aspect of aging that they will begin experiencing pain. Pain in their joints, pain in their muscles, and back problems. Too many people simply accept this pain and do nothing more than take copious amounts of pain relievers and cut back on some of their favorite activities. While it's true that you're likely to run into more conditions that cause discomfort as you get older, that's no reason to simply accept that you should be in pain all the time. It might be the right time, in fact, to see an orthopedic surgeon and see what can be done about your situation.

An orthopedic surgeon is a specialist who practices in the field of diagnosing and treating injuries and illnesses that affect the various components of the muscular and skeletal system. If you've ever glanced at an anatomy chart, you are aware that this is an intensely complicated and complex system. It is also a vast network, meaning that these doctors are among the most broadly encompassing "specialists" in all of medicine. They may be called upon to perform procedures dealing with tendonitis one day and a spinal injury the next.

Most commonly, however, the patients heading in to see an orthopedic surgeon are those who are experiencing increased pain in their major joints. The shoulder, the knee, and the hip are among those areas most frequently affected by arthritis and the wear and tear of aging. Replacements are available in many of these cases, which can relieve nearly all of the pain and restore much of the function of the original joint. If you've been experiencing pain in your joints and you're sick of medicating yourself all day long, you might benefit from having such a doctor take a look at the problem from the standpoint of healing, rather than masking.

An exhaustive list of all the reasons one might choose to see an orthopedic surgeon would be well beyond the scope of a single article, but some of the most common reasons include having an increasingly difficult time carrying things with a particular hand or arm, joint deformity, and pain in the joints that intensifies when resting. You might also seek out a diagnosis if you experience persistent pain in any aspect of the musculoskeletal system that lasts a week or more. Any back problems that don't result from a definitive injury (or even those that do) should be looked at by a specialist as well.