Syndicom

Orthopedic Care — Transforming Pain Through Collaborative Procedures

“Suffering – whether physical, emotional, spiritual, or as often the case, all three – can be a doorway to transformation. As we move to the end of this century and millennium, our personal suffering is sometimes worsened by the lack of communication and community…Telling stories can be healing. We all have within us access to a greater wisdom, and we may not even know that until we speak out loud.” –Dean Ornish, M.D. in Kitchen Table Wisdom, p. xvii

Evidence-based medicine fosters speaking out loud. As AAOS describes, evidence-based medicine integrates best research with the unique preferences, concerns, and expectations that each patient brings to a clinical encounter.

Evidence-based medicine faces a challenge, though, when your patient looks up at you and says, “but when will I be without pain again?”Like most orthopedic surgeons who primarily treat pain, this is a difficult question.

Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Scott Haig in a Time article said, “Pain is never ‘normal’ and it’s almost never gone on schedule; medical judgments about how long it will take to go away are hard to make – and often wrong.” He goes on discussing the challenges of trying to teach the difference between “fixing it” and “managing pain” before stating, “there is a deep and enchanting thing, sometimes beautiful, about people as they step skillfully with time. It’s some kind of dance.” This dance is similar to the future of orthopedic procedures as recently reported by Global Markets Direct.

The report conducted by business intelligence specialists, find that increasing number of individuals are opting for minimally invasive surgeries and treatment options driving revenue growth in the orthopedic sector. Furthermore, innovations in minimally-invasive technologies have enabled patients to now choose alternative orthopedic procedures instead of complex and painful surgical procedures. Global Markets Direct states, “increasing awareness among patient groups and orthopedic surgeons’ familiarity with minimally invasive procedure techniques is likely to positively impact the growth dynamics of the orthopedic devises sector in the next 5 years.” Similarly, a recent article in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery underscore the benefits from early arthroscopic surgery for patients with shoulder dislocations, especially for children and adolescents. Dr. Dean Taylor, co-author of the paper and Orthopedic Surgeon and Professor of Surgery at Duke University Medical Center confirms repairing initial shoulder dislocation can significantly reduce the likelihood of a young athlete having reoccurring injury.

No one likes to be in pain but for many, it is a familiar journey that we look to others for guidance. And these others tend to be doctors, nurses, social workers and surgeons. But they need patients’ help too. Orthopedics strives to innovate procedures to relieve pain, to restore range of motion and to improve walking ability and muscle strength, thus leading to improvement of quality of life. These procedures, however, shall be determined through the integration of best research with clinical expertise and patient values and patient accountability. In so doing, they will serve as a doorway for transforming pain and thereby improving patient care.

Thanks to Utah~Dave AA7IZ and John Charlton for their images.

Carey Candrian

Tags: AAOS, collaborative procedures, communication, communication skills, community, dislocated shoulder treatment, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Dean Taylor, Dr. Scott Haig, Duke Medical Center, ebm, evidence based medicine, Global Markets Direct, Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Kitchen Table Wisdom, minimally invasive surgeries, national patient safety, orthopedic care, orthopedic surgeons, orthopedics, pain, patient accountability, patient care, patient safety, stories of suffering, Time magazine, transforming pain