17609 - Locomotor System Diseases (C)

Academic Year 2025/2026

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in Medicine and Surgery (cod. 5904)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student has acquired knowledge of the basic medical assessment of the main pathologies of the musculoskeletal system, in particular: congenital deformities, growth-related conditions, and degenerative diseases in adulthood and old age. The student is able to understand the diagnostic methods for these pathologies, the main therapeutic options—both conservative and surgical—as well as the principles of diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of injuries affecting the musculoskeletal system.

Course contents

Anatomy, histology, and embryology overview

  • Osteopathies and genotypic chondrodysplasias (e.g., osteogenesis imperfecta)

  • Congenital malformations (spine, congenital muscular torticollis, congenital hip dysplasia, clubfoot)

  • Growth-related alterations (scoliosis, Scheuermann’s disease, spondylolysis-spondylolisthesis, epiphysiolysis, apophysiolysis, osteochondroses, limb length discrepancies, varus and valgus knees, flatfoot and high-arched foot)

  • Pediatric neuromuscular disorders (obstetric palsy, spastic paralysis, poliomyelitis)

  • Circulatory-based alterations (osteonecrosis, complex regional pain syndrome)

  • Joint, tendon, and aponeurotic disorders (osteoarthritis, shoulder periarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, discogenic pain: cervical and lumbar, forefoot deformities)

  • Infectious disorders (osteomyelitis, osteoarticular tuberculosis)

  • Endocrine and metabolic disorders (hyperparathyroidism, rickets, osteoporosis, osteomalacia, gout, Paget’s disease)

  • Tumors and pseudotumoral lesions (classification, diagnosis, staging, therapy, pseudotumoral lesions, metastatic tumors)

  • Traumatic injuries (general principles, treatment, diaphyseal fractures, femoral neck fractures, vertebral fractures and dislocations, meniscus and knee ligament injuries)

  • General principles of hand and upper limb surgery

  • General principles of physical therapy and rehabilitation

Readings/Bibliography

Manuale di Ortopedia e Traumatologia

S. Giannini, C. Faldini, Minerva Medica Editore

Teaching methods

Face-to-face lectures

Assessment methods

Oral examination

Teaching tools

“Face-to-face lectures supported by PowerPoint presentations

Office hours

See the website of Davide Maria Donati