The term orthopedics was coined in 1741 by Nicholas André, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the College de France.
Orthopedic or orthopedic
surgery (alternatively spelled orthopedics), is the branch of surgery that deals with conditions affecting the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use surgical and non-surgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, spinal diseases, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors and congenital disorders. Both “orthopedics” and “orthopedics” are derived from orthopedics, a French term coined by seventeenth-century physician Nicholas Andry de Bois-Regard.The term used by Andry himself is derived from the Greek words θ (ortho), which means “right” or “straight”, and παćδ (paidion), which means “child”. As etymology implies, orthopedics, or what we now know as orthopedics, was first practiced as a way to treat childhood spinal deformities such as polio or scoliosis. Of course, modern orthopedics has grown to encompass a wide range of treatments, as well as expand its focus to include all age groups. Although the term “orthopedics” was first coined in 1741 by Nicholas Andry, the study has a rich history that goes back much further.
For those who do not know, orthopedics is the study and treatment of musculoskeletal systems. Literally meaning “heterosexual child” in Greek, the study began with a focus on pediatric deformities, but it has expanded into many subspecialties, treating ailments of all types and ages. And this is exactly what our orthopedic specialists treat our Celebration patients, here at Celebration orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Institute. Do you need an orthopedic surgeon? Call us.
The word orthopedic comes from the Greek orthos meaning straight, correct and paideia which means raising children. The term was originally used for children and the type of treatment they received for skeletal deformities such as bowed legs or knocked knees. An orthopedic shoe is one that is supposed to help correct deformed bones and support weakened muscles of a foot. The term modern orthopedics comes from the ancient word orthopedics, which was the title of a book published in 1741 by Nicholas Andry, professor of medicine at the University of Paris.
It must be definitively corrected by the decision of all orthopedic surgeons around the world to write the title of their work with an “e” according to the second correct compound word of this title. The word was assimilated to English as orthopedics; the ligature ae was common at that time for ae in Greek and Latin words. The correct words to express the object of the orthopedic specialty existed and were used since more than twenty centuries before Andry's children's book. Before orth- vowels, word-forming element meaning straight, vertical, rectangular, regular; true, correct, proper, now mainly in scientific and technical compounds, from the Greek orthos straight, true, correct, regular, standing *eredh- high (source also from Sanskrit urdhvah high, elevated, steep, latin arduus alto, steep, old Irish are tall).