Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery specializes in parts of the body that we can move ourselves, such as the spine and limbs, other than the head. The skeleton of the limbs is made up of bones connected by joints. Cartilage comes into contact at the joints and is fixed in place by ligaments. The joints move when muscles act in response to commands from nerves (spinal cord, peripheral nerves). The spine (vertebral column) is a balanced support column in which many bones are connected to intervertebral discs by joints, and which moves flexibly due to the erector spinae muscles. These enable humans to move around by walking, running, and riding a bicycle. The upper limbs and hands are precision machines that support human wisdom with their precise movements.
Naturally, these disorders directly lead to a decline in activity and quality of life. Our role is to help people who have difficulty living their daily lives due to disorders of the limbs or spine to return to their original lives. This includes helping athletes who require high levels of activity to return to their original level. There are many diseases, including traumatic fractures, spinal cord injuries, sports injuries, childhood diseases such as idiopathic scoliosis, lumbar disc herniation and adult spinal deformity due to age-related degeneration, inflammatory diseases such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, infectious diseases such as pyogenic spondylitis and tuberculosis, bone tumors such as osteosarcoma, and soft tissue tumors such as lipomas. We strive to deepen our understanding of these diseases and update specialized treatments, from conservative treatments such as drug therapy and exercise therapy to surgical treatments.
To achieve this, we conduct everything from clinical research that examines treatment outcomes to basic research that leads to new treatments. Our department is divided into the spine team, upper limbs (shoulders, elbows, hands), joints (lower limbs) team (hips, knee sports, knee replacements, feet, osteoporosis), and tumor team, and each staff member is working to improve their expertise and provide cutting-edge medical care.