Orthopaedics

Service description

Orthopaedics covers bones, joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons — which in practice means most of the pain that stops people working. Our orthopaedical service treats two quite different populations here. Desk-based patients arrive with neck pain, lower back pain and wrist problems built up over years of poor seating and long hours. Patients doing physical work arrive with acute injuries, chronic shoulder and knee wear, and pain they have worked through for months before coming in.

Both groups tend to present late. That matters, because a large proportion of musculoskeletal problems respond well to early treatment — activity modification, targeted physiotherapy, a joint injection, a period of bracing — and respond less well once the pattern is established. Assessment includes on-site X-ray and ultrasound, so in most cases you leave the first appointment knowing what is wrong.

Conditions treated

• Lower back pain and neck pain

• Slipped disc and sciatica

• Frozen shoulder and rotator cuff injuries

• Tennis elbow and golfer's elbow

• Carpal tunnel syndrome and other nerve entrapments

• Knee pain and osteoarthritis

• Meniscus tears and ligament injuries

• Plantar fasciitis and heel pain

• Ankle sprains and instability

• Gout and inflammatory joint pain

• Fractures — assessment, casting and follow-up

• Sports injuries

• Work-related musculoskeletal injuries

• Bone pain associated with vitamin D deficiency

• Post-operative and post-fracture rehabilitation

  
  

Process overview

1. Consultation and examination. The orthopaedic doctor assesses movement, strength and the pattern of pain, and asks how the problem affects your work and daily activity.

2. Imaging. X-ray or ultrasound is performed on site where it will change the diagnosis or the plan. MRI is arranged externally when required.

3. Diagnosis. You are shown what the imaging demonstrates and told what is causing the pain in plain terms.

4. Treatment. Depending on the diagnosis, this may include medication, an injection, bracing or casting, activity modification, or referral into physiotherapy.

5. Rehabilitation. Where physiotherapy is part of the plan, the exercise programme is agreed alongside your orthopaedic treatment rather than separately.

6. Review. Progress is reviewed at an agreed interval, and surgical referral is arranged if conservative treatment has not delivered.