Orthopedists specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and prevention of injuries to and diseases of the musculoskeletal system – the network of bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves that gives the body its shape and allows us to move.

Many of the problems orthopedists treat involve the joints, places in the body where two or more bones meet. Humans have three different kinds of joints: fibrous (in the skull), cartilaginous (in the spine) and synovial (the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, hips, knees, ankles and feet). This last type is what we usually refer to when we say “joint.” Ligaments connect bones to each other, and tendons connect muscles and bones.