Orthopedics and traumatology of TCM is a subject to study the prevention and treatment of osteoarticular and periarticular soft tissue injury and disease. It is a clinical subject in TCM with a unique therapeutic theory and rich clinical therapeutic methods. These therapeutic methods are quite effective for orthopedic and traumatic diseases.

TCM orthopedics and traumatology has a long history. It is a subject initiating and gradually developing in Chinese people's struggle against various osteoarticular injuries and diseases.

 Main Contents of Orthopedics and Traumatology

Traumatology and osteopathy in TCM is composed of the following two parts.
  
Traumatology

It mainly includes fracture, dislocation, injury of muscle and tendon, and internal traumatic syndrome.
     
 Fracture   
Fracture refers to the breaking of continuity or integrity of the bone due to violent external forces. Its main clinical symptoms are local pain, swelling, functional disturbance, deformity, abnormal movement and bony crepitus. Fracture is a kind of disease commonly and frequently encountered in clinic. A systematic theory has been developed and rich clinical experience has been accumulated during a long period of practice. Excellent effects have been achieved in reduction manipulation, splint fixation, functional exercise and herbal treatment. Their results are satisfactory in relieving the patients' sufferings, shortening the therapeutic courses and recovering the functions.
     

 Dislocation  
Dislocation means that the articular epiphyseal surface is broken away from its normal location, with articular dysfunction. The main clinical symptoms are localized pain, swelling, functional disturbance, articular malformation, vacancy of the glenoid cavity, and elastic fixation. Articular dislocation is also a kind of commonly encountered traumatic disease.
   
Injury of muscle and tendon  
Injury of muscle and tendon refers to the traumas caused by sprain, contusion, stabbing and cut of such tissues as skin, muscle, fascia, tendon and ligament, cartilage, peripheral nerves and great blood vessels. The domain of injury of muscle and tendon is large, including various acute and chronic injuries of soft tissues all over the body. The clinical symptoms are various.
    
Internal traumatic syndrome  
This means the visceral injuries and the subsequent dysfunction of qi and blood, viscera and meridians. The main symptoms are bleeding, pain, fever, flatulence and coma. The main injury may be summarized as qi injury and blood injury.

Qi injury: This means the disorder of qi activities of the human body caused by trauma, including qi stagnation, qi blockage, qi deficiency and qi collapse.

Blood injury: This means the blockage of blood circulation, or blood stasis, or blood extravasation from the vessels, or great loss of blood caused by trauma, including blood stasis and blood exhaustion.
 
Osteopathy

Osteopathy is of a large domain. It can be classified into the following sorts.
     
Congenital bone malformation 
It mainly refers to some congenital diseases of the bone and articulation, including developmental disorders of the bone and articulation, congenital defects of the spine and the limbs. The causative factors have not been completely understood now. It is mostly due to the abnormalities of fetal development, with a remarkable family history in some cases. The common ones are bone and joint maldevelopment, congenital neck diseases, congenital spinal malformation, and congenital limb malformation.
     
Carbuncle of the bone (pyogenic infection of the bone and joint) 
This is a kind of suppurative infective disease resulting from the invasion of pyogenic bacteria in the bones and joints. It is mostly caused by dissemination of the residual toxin, invasion of the exogenous six pathogenic factors, internal injuries of the seven emotions, and sexual overstrain. The commonly encountered carbuncles are acute pyogenic osteomyelitis, suppurative arthritis and bone syphilis.
    
Tuberculosis of the bone and joint
This is a kind of destructive chronic pyogenic disease caused by invasion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the bone and joint. The diseases, commonly seen in children and youth, are mostly due to infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis on the basis of constitutional asthenia of the liver and kidney or injury of the spleen and kidney from acquired malnutrition. Clinically, there are simple bone tuberculosis, simple synovial tuberculosis and panarticular tuberculosis. Tuberculosis may occur in both the joints and bones of the whole body.
      
Osteoarticular Bi-syndrome 
This is a kind of disease with symptoms of muscular and articular aching, numbness, heaviness and swelling, and limited movement of the joint resulting from impaired circulation of qi and blood in the meridians by the exogenous pathogenic wind, cold, dampness and heat. Included are rheumatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, gouty arthritis, traumatic arthritis, menopausal arthritis, neurodermatitis, intra-articular corpus liberum, articular synovitis, psoriatic arthritis, and hemophilic arthritis.
     
Wei-synflrome 
This is a kind of disease with symptoms of flaccidity of the body, thin muscles, and weakness and numbness of the limbs caused by invasion of pathogenic factors on the body, trauma, or weakness of the healthy qi. Included are polyneuritis, dermatomyositis, infantile paralysis, cerebral paralysis, hemiparalysis, paraplegia, myopathic paralysis and myoatrophy.
    
Tendon spasm 
This is a kind of disease with articular dysfunction resulting from continuous contraction of the muscle or loss of normal elasticity due to contracture of the skin, joint capsule or ligament caused by congenital disturbance of development, trauma, ischemia, and invasion of pathogenic factors. Included are ischemic contracture, contracture of the musculus flexor digitorum, contracture of the aponeurosis palmaris, contracture of the iliotibial band, and contracture of the joint.
    
Osteoarticular degenerative disease
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