In musculoskeletal medicine, one encounters more and more colleagues with subspecialisations, as it is hardly possible to follow the rapid developments in medicine without them. This is certainly inevitable. These specializations are mostly limited to organ systems and start early in the training. In my opinion, traumatology is also a specialization, but due to its complexity it requires a correspondingly longer training period, which many young colleagues are no longer willing to invest in and thus remain limited. Only with this broad training, however, can one learn the necessary knowledge of related disciplines and specialists. Furthermore, there are specialties and surgical techniques that the organ specialist only touches upon briefly in his training, while the traumatologist perfects them and learns to apply them to various injuries. That is why I see the modern trauma surgeon, not only as a technically well-trained surgeon, but also as a team player and "caretaker" for the patient, who classifies the injury or injuries in the overall picture and coordinates the treatment together with the general practitioner.

It may be necessary to involve specialists in order to achieve the best possible result, but pure surgery, if it becomes necessary, is only one key to success. Primary treatment planning and then further rehabilitation, taking into account the respective private and professional profile, is perhaps just as important and requires a competent contact person in the form of the traumatologist. This also applies to the growing group of elderly patients who, like patients with tumor metastases, always require a highly individualized treatment concept in order to maintain their independence in their familiar surroundings for as long as possible or to regain it as quickly as possible. Minimally invasive, multimodal/disciplinary and conservative procedures, with the early possibility of full weight-bearing, are of great importance. In this sense, I would like to stand by my patients with confidence.