Orthopedics is the branch of medicine concerned with diseases, injuries, and conditions of the musculoskeletal system - relating to the body's muscles and skeleton, and including the joints, ligaments, tendons, and nerves.

The proper title of this medical specialty is orthopedic surgery, although orthopedics is a generally accepted term.

Orthopedic surgery is made up of physicians and other healthcare professionals who provide comprehensive orthopedic services. Their expertise provides treatment and care of diseases, injuries, fractures, and pain. Orthopedists also design rehabilitation programs for the physically disabled and participate in ongoing musculoskeletal research.

One Patient's Story

A few years ago, Carroll Hicks of Springfield started noticing pain in her lower back and legs. The pain eventually became so unbearable that she couldn't do everyday things, like get in and out of her car or go to the lake with her grandchildren.

Now her pain is gone and she's back to being an active grandma, thanks to a new, minimally invasive approach to hip replacement surgery. Instead of a large, 8 to 12-inch incision required for traditional hip replacement surgery, the new approach requires only a 4-inch incision, dramatically reducing the patient's hospital stay, pain and recovery time. Hicks was the first St. John's patient to receive the new minimally invasive hip replacement surgery.

"I was nervous about the surgery because I had heard how painful the recovery was, but thanks to the new approach, I had very minimal discomfort after the operation," she says, "and now, the only way I can tell I had the surgery is the fact that I can get around 100 times better than I did before."

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