When to Call an Orthopedic Specialist

An orthopedic specialist is a doctor who specializes in a certain area of the muscular skeletal system. There are many areas an orthopedic doctor can focus on and many deal only with one individual area. For example, they may focus on the spine, knees, elbows and shoulder, wrist and hand, hip, foot and ankle, trauma and even oncology or pediatrics.

Trauma can include events such as severe fractures and deformity correction. When a patient breaks multiple bones or has multiple fractures at one time sometimes an orthopedic specialist is called in to ensure the patient heals properly. Patients who survive car accidents for example will often have multiple soft tissue and bone injuries including fractures and broken bones. In order to ensure proper healing a specialist is often called in to help patients who have suffered a traumatic injury.

Some fractures and broken bones can be fixed with splinting and casting in order to force the fractured or broken bone to grow back together and heal correctly. More severe cases often require the skill set of an orthopedic surgeon who can operate on the area to correct the problem and give the bones the best chance to heal correctly.

It can take a minimum of three weeks to several months for your bones to heal properly after a break or fracture. An orthopedic specialist can work with you to come up with a recovery plan to get you back to your pre-injury condition. This often includes physical therapy in conjunction with pain management. It's important to have a follow-through visit after any traumatic injury to ensure you're on the road to recovery. The longer your bones are set in a cast and immobilized the more damage that can occur from your muscles not being used. This is why it's vital to go straight into physical therapy as soon as possible after a fracture or broken bone.

It's not just broken bones from accidents however that can require an orthopedic specialist to treat you. These doctors are known in the medical world as the sports doctors because they are often the specialist that deals with injuries that are a direct result of repetitive movements that come from playing sports.

The most common sports related injuries are rotor cuff injuries. Your rotor cuff is made up of muscles and tendons that connect your upper arm bone with your shoulder blade. Half of the time rotor cuff injuries will heal if the repetitive motion activity ceases and the patient is allowed to recover on their own. However for most athletes who receives rotor cuff injuries they end up seeing an orthopedic specialist because they did not stop playing the sport and did not give the injury time to heal properly. This can mean surgery to correct the damage and more down time for the patient to heal and fully recover.

Keep in mind whenever you receive an injury time is the one thing that only you can provide for recovery.