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Definition

Orthopedic (sometimes spelled orthopaedic) surgery is surgery performed by a medical specialist, such as an orthopedist or orthopedic surgeon, trained to deal with problems that develop in the bones, joints, and ligaments of the human body.

Purpose

Orthopedic surgery corrects problems that arise in the skeleton and its attachments, the ligaments and tendons. It may also deal with some problems of the nervous system, such as those that arise from injury of the spine. These problems can occur at birth, through injury, or as the result of aging. They may be acute, as in injury, or chronic, as in many aging-related problems.

Orthopedics comes from two Greek words, ortho, meaning straight and pais, meaning child. Originally orthopedic surgeons dealt with bone deformities in children, using braces to straighten the child's...