Residents and attendings , your perspective on whether ortho is right for me, a small short man ?

[bertino]

i know its not possible to give life advice to someone we do not know but being more experienced , your opinion can help me . I am a small guy 5 , 7 with little muscles narrow bones. I am in a country where ortho is not super competitive , but moderately. I have finished my med school. . Should i go into ortho? I was always fascinated by it during med school. But i fear i may not be suitable for physically demanding task, and it may take a toll on me as i age. Your view ?
P.s ( TraumaMD username please comment if you see this)

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[bertino]

@OrthoTraumaMD your opinion needed. Thanks

 

[Miles Gloriosus]

I wouldn’t worry about your physical stature. If your interested and academically qualified, go ahead and do it.

 

[bertino]

Thanks for the input MeLace.
Anyone else here who would like to give suggestion ?

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

If you like ortho, do ortho. There are even ortho surgeons with achondroplastic dwarfism.

 

[bertino]

If you like ortho, do ortho. There are even ortho surgeons with achondroplastic dwarfism.

Thats interesting. Doctor, I do have mild hand tremors when i am nervous or anxious( anxiety issues). is it a bad idea to chose surgical specialty? have you seen such people in surgical specialty? Honest answer would be nice. Thanks.

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

Thats interesting. Doctor, I do have mild hand tremors when i am nervous or anxious( anxiety issues). is it a bad idea to chose surgical specialty? have you seen such people in surgical specialty? Honest answer would be nice. Thanks.

I would ask a doctor who can examine your tremors and see how bad they are.

 

[bertino]

I would ask a doctor who can examine your tremors and see how bad they are.

Thank you doctor for answering so patiently . Just One last question. I feel that my hand eye motor cordination may not be so good because i am not good at sports like soccer e.t.c. do you think it translates into ones ability in the O.R ? From your experience of teaching are there any residents who are just horrible with manual skills/ dexterity? does repetition compensate for it ?
Thank you.

 

[OrthoTraumaMD]

Thank you doctor for answering so patiently . Just One last question. I feel that my hand eye motor cordination may not be so good because i am not good at sports like soccer e.t.c. do you think it translates into ones ability in the O.R ? From your experience of teaching are there any residents who are just horrible with manual skills/ dexterity? does repetition compensate for it ?
Thank you.

Yes there are, but it has nothing to do with lack of dexterity. Practice compensates for most things.

 

[blaqmamba]

I heard a saying once, "you can teach a monkey to operate." And I believe this is true. I've seen senior attendings with poor eyesight and questionable tremors do just fine. Yes, operating under a microscope can be exponentially difficult in this scenario (ie a hand/micro surgeon), but I wouldn't hold back just yet. Agree with above, just get checked out and see how bad your tremor really is.

 

[nexus73]

Is it the size of the surgeon or the size of the ego that's important? Probably more interest and competence.

 

[numberwunn]

Is your bench + step 1 > 500?

Jk. Agree with everything above. Size can be an advantage at times (i.e. water-skiing on really obese patients) but by no means required. None of my residency classmates were large and they were fine.

As far as judging hands - it's really hard to judge before residency. I suck at anything requiring a ball, but have reasonably good surgical hands. My partner has a real tremor, but great at operating. Biggest part of success is knowing what to do. Most people can learn the skills with practice, very few cannot learn (though it does happen)

 

[0ncogene]

Only 5'6 here and did well during ortho residency. I was trained by surgeons whose height ranged from 5'0 - 6'6, and size did not matter.

 

[ChiDO]

It's about leverage and technical skills, not brute strength