C2 · 20 words
Orthopaedics and trauma surgery in German
Plates, nails and wires, and the German that says when a broken bone can carry weight again.
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On a German trauma ward die Extension is often not what an English speaker expects. The word does have the anatomical sense English knows: Flexion und Extension are the bending and the straightening of a joint. But a patient whose leg liegt in Extension is not lying with it held straight; the leg is in traction. A wire is passed through the bone, a cord runs over a pulley to a weight, and the steady pull keeps the broken limb at its length and roughly in line until it can be fixed. The full name is die Extensionsbehandlung, and die Drahtextension says what carries the pull. English puts none of this into its own word: an extension adds time, a room or a telephone line, and nobody on an English ward would use it for traction. When German means the joint rather than the weight, the everyday verb is strecken.
The words
Verb (4)
verplattento fix with a plateVerbC2
Inseparable, no ge- in the participle: verplattet.
reponierento reduce (a fracture or dislocation)VerbC2
Past participle without ge-: reponiert.
durchbauento unite (of a fracture)VerbC2
Separable: baut durch, durchgebaut. Mostly in the form ist durchgebaut.
versteifento fuse (a joint), to stiffenVerbC1
Inseparable. Figurative: sich auf etwas (acc.) versteifen, to insist stubbornly on something.
Noun (13)
Grammar for these: The three genders · The plural
die Osteosyntheseinternal fixation (osteosynthesis)NounC2
Plural: die Osteosynthesen.
der Marknagelintramedullary nailNounC2
Plural: die Marknägel.
der Fixateur externeexternal fixatorNounC2
The French adjective stays uninflected; often shortened to der Fixateur.
die Zuggurtungtension-band wiringNounC2
Plural: die Zuggurtungen.
die Extensiontraction (of a limb)NounC2
Also the straightening of a joint, the opposite of Flexion.
die Pseudarthrosenon-union (false joint)NounC2
Plural: die Pseudarthrosen.
der Kalluscallus (new bone at a fracture)NounC2
Plural: die Kallusse.
die Kortikaliscortical boneNounC2
No plural.
die Spongiosacancellous boneNounC2
No plural.
das Kompartmentsyndromcompartment syndromeNounC2
Plural: die Kompartmentsyndrome.
die Totalendoprothesetotal joint replacementNounC2
Plural: die Totalendoprothesen. Short form: die TEP, as in die Hüft-TEP.
der Prothesenwechselrevision (of a joint replacement)NounC2
Plural: die Prothesenwechsel.
die Metallentfernungremoval of metalworkNounC1
Plural: die Metallentfernungen.
Adjective (2)
Grammar for these: Adjectives after sein · Comparative and superlative
übungsstabilstable enough for exercise (of a fixation)AdjectiveC2
Contrast belastungsstabil: stable enough to bear weight.
zementfreicementless (of an implant)AdjectiveC2
Opposite: zementiert.
Phrase (1)
Hals- und Beinbruchgood luck! (literally: break your neck and leg)PhraseC1
Said before an exam, a performance or a ski trip, never meant literally.
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This list belongs to Body, health and medicine — 51 lists and 1 862 words that can also be practised as a whole.