If you have an orthopedic condition, non-invasive treatments may help. These could include injections, physical therapy, braces, and home exercise.
But when the pain or loss of function continues, you do have options. Here are some of the common types of orthopedic surgery we may be able to use to provide relief and restore function.
1. Arthroscopic Surgery
Arthroscopic surgery is a minimally invasive way to perform surgery. It uses very small surgical incisions, specialized surgical instruments, and a tiny magnified, high resolution camera that guides the process.
If you must have surgery, we prefer arthroscopic procedures whenever possible. When compared to traditional open surgery, they:
- Reduce incision size
- Lessens tissue damage in the area
- Decrease chance of complications
- Cause less discomfort
- Promote faster healing
We can use the arthroscopic method on many of the surgeries we discuss here.
2. Soft Tissue Repair
Soft tissues include tendons and ligaments that can tear or fray. This causes extreme pain and loss of function.
A torn ACL is a common soft tissue injury you’ve likely heard of if you watch/play football, basketball, or other sports.
Torn soft tissues can take years to heal without surgery–if it’s even possible. Here’s a more likely scenario. Every time it almost heals, you re-tear it because it’s already weakened, so we recommend soft tissue repair in many cases.
Correct the issue, recover, and get back in the game.
3. Joint Replacement
A joint replacement may be necessary if conservative treatments for joint pain don’t work. It involves replacing a painful joint in your body with an artificial joint that restores function and significantly reduces pain after a recovery period.
4. Debridement
Tissues can die from damage due to misuse, overuse, disuse, inflammation, or disease. When this occurs, you may need damaged soft or bone tissues removed so that the remaining tissues can heal. Debridement may be done in combination with other procedures to restore function.
5. Revision Joint Surgery
While joint replacement has helped many people eliminate pain and move freely again, sometimes joint replacements do fail or wear out after many years of use.
A revision joint surgery fixes or replaces the replacement.
6. Spinal Fusion
Sometimes slipping, instability, and degeneration in the backbone can lead to damage to the disc cushions between the vertebrae and pain in the spinal nerves.
A spinal fusion involves fusing a section of vertebrae together to restore stability, reduce pressure on the discs and nerves to stop the pain.
7. Bone Fusion
Your doctor may recommend a bone fusion to treat a fracture that is at risk of not healing properly if allowed to knit together naturally as bones do when a cast or brace alone is used. If a bone heals by itself incorrectly, it can cause all kinds of joint, bone, and chronic pain problems both at the source of the injury and elsewhere. It’s all connected. We may use pins, screws, and plates to secure bone fragments together so they can heal.
Common Orthopedic Surgeries
Ultimately, we do what we can to prevent the need for surgery. But it’s good to know that if conservative treatments like physical therapy don’t provide adequate relief and restoration, you have surgical options. To learn more about both non-surgical and surgical treatment options, contact us for an appointment.