Orthopaedic medicine

Orthopedic surgery
This fracture of the lower cervical vertebrae, known as a "teardrop fracture", is one of the conditions treated by orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons.
MeSH	D019637
[]

Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics, also spelled orthopaedic[s], is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors, and congenital disorders.

Nicholas Andry coined the word in French as orthopédie, derived from the Greek words ὀρθός orthos ("correct", "straight") and παιδίον paidion ("child"), when he published Orthopedie (translated as Orthopædia: Or the Art of Correcting and Preventing Deformities in Children) in 1741. The word was assimilated into English as orthopædics; the ligature æ was common in that era for ae in Greek- and Latin-based words. Though, as the name implies, the discipline was initially developed with attention to children, the correction of spinal and bone deformities in all stages of life eventually became the cornerstone of orthopedic practice.

As with many words derived with the "æ" ligature, simplification to either "ae" or just "e" is common, especially in North America. In the US, the majority of college, university and residency programs, and even the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, still use the spelling with the digraph ae, though hospitals usually use the shortened form. Elsewhere, usage is not uniform: in Canada, both spellings are acceptable; orthopaedics usually prevails in the rest of the British Commonwealth, especially in the UK.