[HTML1] What is osteoarthritis? And among osteoarthritis patients, who is a candidate for surgery? Today on Your Health Matters, host Christopher Springmann asks Dr. Rick Schultz for his perspective. Dr. Schultz, President of the Medical Staff and Director of the Musculoskeletal Care Division at Scott & White Healthcare’s Round Rock, Texas clinic, talks about how osteoarthritis is the chronic breakdown of cartilage in the joints. “We think that osteoarthritis has to do primarily with genetics,” he tells us, “what you inherited from your parents and the ability of your cartilage to survive the wear and tear of events of life.” But surgery doesn’t have to be the first option. It’s a last resort that some patients can avoid, or at least delay, through a program of low-impact exercise or weight loss. “We get to a point with many people that they’re really missing out on life because their knees or their hips or their other joints hurt so much,” explains Dr. Schultz. “And at that point we do have good surgical options that allow them to regain those abilities and to hopefully continue to enjoy their life.”
More about Rick Schultz
Dr. Richard B. Schultz, M.D. is President of the Medical Staff and Director of the Musculoskeletal Care Division at Scott & White Healthcare’s Round Rock, Texas clinic. He earned a B.A. from Rice University, and an M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, both in Houston. He trained in orthopedics at Scott & White, joining the staff there in 1998. Dr. Schultz is certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, and also serves as an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Texas A&M University Health Science Center College of Medicine. His patient care emphasis at Scott & White is arthritis, arthritis surgery, direct anterior total hip replacement and hip resurfacing, muscle sparing joint replacement, total and partial knee replacement, total joint reconstruction, direct anterior approach total hip replacement, and minimally invasive total joint replacement.
More about Scott & White Healthcare
When Arthur C. Scott, M.D., and Raleigh R. White Jr., M.D., began their medical practice in Temple, Texas in 1897, they shared one fundamental conviction: medicine must serve the people. Today, Scott & White Healthcare is a fully integrated health system — the largest multi-specialty practice in Texas and the sixth largest group practice in the nation. Scott & White employs more than 1,100 health care providers and research scientists who care for patients covering 25,000 square miles across Central Texas.
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