Extract
To The Editor:There can be no dispute about the facts and recommendations stated in the
article: "An AOA Critical Issue: Aging of the North American Population:
New Challenges for Orthopaedics" (2003;85:748-55), by Buckwalter et al.
However, management of the complaints of the older population by orthopaedists
will fail unless they are able to separate the physical complaints that are
due to organic disease from those that are not organic in origin. More
specifically, I refer to somatization secondary to depression. Orthopaedists
may also be faced with symptoms that are due to any number of psychological
problems, such as anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder, but depression is
the 800-pound gorilla with regard to the elderly1.