Your orthopedic doctor won’t literally “yell” at you, but these are three things they do wish you would avoid. Try to keep these things in mind when you’re going about your day, as it will help you to avoid any awkward encounters with your doctor. It isn’t hard to keep healthy, and these are things you don’t want to forget.
3 Things Your Orthopedic Doctor Will Yell at You For
In general, keeping on top of your orthopedic health doesn’t require too much nuance. As long as you are aware of potential problems and not intentionally hurting yourself, only freak accidents can hurt you. Unfortunately, this seems to slip the mind of many people. Normally this slip up only happens once, and a visit to an orthopedic doctor later gets them back on their feet.
Your orthopedic doctor isn’t actually going to yell you at for getting hurt. However, reminding you not to make any silly mistakes is part of their job. If you want to avoid a scolding from your orthopedic doctor, you should probably avoid doing these things. Everyone wants their orthopedic doctor to be happy, right?
#1: Putting Yourself In Precarious Situations
You probably won’t be surprised to learn this, but it’s true: a lot of accidents are avoidable. These silly accidents can often leave your doctor looking like this: 
Especially in orthopedics, you can avoid injury simply by not giving yourself the ability to get hurt. The risk can’t always be avoided, but in many cases, it can.
For example, a lot of injuries come from overconfidence when doing housework. Ladders are a particular cause of pain. Many people “know how to climb a ladder” by themselves, which is always dangerous. When you climb a ladder alone, you have to stabilize yourself while climbing. This can easily throw off your balance, and cause you to fall.
This often happens because a person has done something before, and develops a hubris about it. Remember that probability can always catch up to you. Yes, you can climb a ladder alone thousands of times and never get injured. You can also carry a lightning rod through a thunderstorm and survive. That doesn’t make it a good decision.
You can’t always prevent accidents, and that’s okay. You might even go into something, like sports, aware of the risk that you’re putting yourself out. However, when you have the time and ability to be safe, it’s silly not to be.
#2: Overworking Yourself
Again, this often comes from overconfidence. The story tends to go something like this:
It’s Jacks 39th birthday party, and he’s reminiscing with some old friends. They remember the glory days of high school football, and the few drinks they have in them makes it seem like a good idea to go out and scrimmage. John, formerly a running back, takes the ball from his friend and sprints across the yard. He makes it into the designated end zone and starts to celebrate. Then, one of his friends remarks, “You used to be so much faster when we were kids.”
Angrily, Jack responds, “I’m just as fast now.”
Attempting another sprint, Jack learns he is not just as fast now. But he’s too far gone: he has to prove it now. He runs as hard as he can and begins to feel a sharp pain in his knees. When he finally comes to a stop, there is a loud “popping” noise. He falls to the ground.
This isn’t the only way to overwork yourself, of course. Dancers often hurt their hips trying to turn over, runners often push themselves too hard. If you feel like your body can’t handle the stress you are putting it under, your body probably can’t handle the stress that you’re putting it under.
Perhaps more importantly, especially when it comes to exercise, overworking has no more benefit than just working. If you can’t handle bench-pressing 200 pounds, pain is the only difference between that and 150. Do not overwork yourself: nothing good will come of it.
#3: Waiting Too Long to See Them
Another thing that an orthopedic doctor will see every day is a person who should have come to see them much sooner. There are legitimate reasons to hold off on going to see your doctor. You might wait a day or two to see a doctor for an ankle sprain because it’s a grade 2 that you thought was a grade 1.
However, there are many scenarios where it makes no sense to not go to a doctor as soon as you can. Chronic pain in your hand and wrist can’t be many things other than arthritis. Arthritis is one of the best things it can be, actually. Avoiding your doctor won’t make the pain better.
Whether it’s anxiety or stubbornness, you should push yourself to see your orthopedic doctor when you need to. No one has ever said, “I really wish I hadn’t seen that doctor.”
