Orthopedic disorders: What you need to know

The mention of the term orthopedic triggers the general idea of issues relating to the entire musculoskeletal system as a functioning part of the human body.

Most people are often ignorant of the superb relevance of the skeletal system to their very being and the everyday activity of the human body.

Aside from being the basic frame of the body that supports you, the musculoskeletal system makes up for what serves your body’s posture whether in motion or static. If these should be taken into great consideration; one question arises, are orthopedic disorders a thing of worry to both the general populace and medical community?

Orthopedic disorders in short are simply diseases, injuries, or trauma that affect your musculoskeletal system. When any part of your musculoskeletal system is tampered with by external forces, bad health, or injuries, the body feels destabilized enough for locomotion to be hindered immensely.

These parts can normally range from your bones, joints, muscles, nerves, ligaments, tissues even to your tendon, all of which work in unison to keep your physical structure active.

 

How do orthopedic disorders occur in the human body?

You can divide the causes of orthopedic disorders into two basic parts being:

• Disease/Deficiency problem: We see diseases affecting the musculoskeletal system either from childhood or in adulthood. These diseases can slowly cause a degeneration in the joints, muscles, bones, and sometimes the nerves connections, rendering your motor functions inactive. Furthermore, deficiency of some bodily nutrients (Vitamins) can cause harm to your musculoskeletal system.

 

• Trauma cases: Accidents that create serious and sudden injuries to any part of the musculoskeletal system are bound to lead to an orthopedic disorder for the patient.

 

To get a better idea of what orthopedic disorders are, we’ll explore a couple of instances that can either come from disease, deficiencies, or trauma.

 

Arthritis: This orthopedic disorder is perhaps one of the most common disease-related musculoskeletal system ailments plaguing most people. It is an inflammation of the joints which attacks the patients with symptoms such as serious pains, joint function depreciation, and joint damage. Arthritis is so common that there are more variants of it existing which scores of people suffer from.

 

Osteoporosis: Commonly experienced by young children, Osteoporosis is a loss of bone density that causes the bone to feel weak and brittle.

 

Osteomyelitis: This happens when the bone is infected to a certain degree.

 

Osteomalacia: A deficiency of Vitamin D (a nutrient that is responsible for strengthening bones) causes a medical instance called Osteomalacia which weakens the musculoskeletal system especially the bones while distorting the muscles to form bow legs.

 

How you can identify an orthopedic disorder

Common symptoms are muscle spasms, pain in the bone, muscles, or joints, swelling (popular in cases of inflammation), stiffing of joints and muscles, difficulty in moving or limited mobility, deformity of a joint or bone.

 

Handling orthopedic conditions in Nigeria

Today, the practice of musculoskeletal medicine in the country has experienced a significant development owing to the rise of state-of-the-art orthopedic healthcare centers like Orthofit Orthopaedics, Enugu which provide excellent rehabilitation through modern medical methods and surgeries for musculoskeletal ailment treatment and medications.