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OrthoSCORER
Student Curriculum for Orthopedic Resident Education Readiness
A 4-week primer for medical students preparing for orthopedic sub-internships and residency applications. Free. Open enrollment. Start anytime.
ABOUT THE COURSE
OrthoSCORER is a structured four-week online curriculum that prepares medical students for the demands of an orthopedic sub-internship and the orthopedic residency application year. The course covers foundational orthopedic science, fractures and bone pathology, joints and sports medicine, and the practical realities of applying to orthopedic surgery, all in roughly 45 to 60 minutes a day, Monday through Friday.
The curriculum is built around evidence-based learning principles. Every day combines thorough and high-yield lecture slides with a short quiz, and Day 20 closes with a cumulative review of the whole course. A longitudinal radiograph-reading track trains students to read and present films in the same structured language they will be expected to use on rounds. Week 1 sets are live, and new sets are added through the course.
WHO IT'S FOR
OrthoSCORER is designed for medical students preparing for orthopedic surgery rotations, particularly fourth-year students preparing for sub-internships at programs they are interested in for residency application. It is also useful for third-year students considering orthopedics who want a focused introduction to the field. No prior orthopedic experience is required.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
What You Will Learn
By the end of OrthoSCORER, students will be able to:
Apply foundational orthopedic principles (bone biology, biomechanics, soft tissue healing, regional anatomy, and a structured radiograph-reading framework) to clinical scenarios. (Week 1)
Classify and triage common adult and pediatric fractures across the upper and lower extremity. (Week 2)
Differentiate common bone, joint, and cartilage pathology, and perform the regional workup of the shoulder, elbow, hip, and knee, and outline the principles of arthroplasty, arthroscopy, and sports surgery. (Week 3)
Work up the hand, foot, and spine, manage failed joint replacements; recognize orthopedic emergencies; and build a personal residency-application strategy. (Week 4)
Course Structure
The course runs four weeks, Monday through Friday, with a target time commitment of 45 to 60 minutes per day.
Week 1 – OrthoBASICS: Foundational Sciences. Bone biology and remodeling, biomechanics fundamentals, soft tissue healing, regional musculoskeletal anatomy, and a structured framework for reading radiographs.
Week 2 – OrthoBONES: Fractures. Fracture biology and classification systems, upper extremity fractures, lower extremity fractures from pelvis to foot, and pediatric and physeal injuries.
Week 3 – OrthoJOINTS: Joint and Bone Pathology. Bone pathology including osteoporosis, infection, and tumors; inflammatory, degenerative, and crystalline arthritis; and the regional workup of the shoulder, elbow, hip, and knee; and arthroplasty, arthroscopy, and sports principles.
Week 4 – OrthoADVANCED: Operative Principles, Emergencies, and the Application Year. The hand and foot; advanced arthroplasty (revision, infection, periprosthetic fracture); spine; orthopedic emergencies; and the residency-application timeline and sub-internship readiness. Day 20 closes with a cumulative musculoskeletal review.
HOW IT WORKS
Each day follows the same template: the day's lecture presentation, a daily quiz, and a radiograph-reading set where one is available. The Day 20 cumulative quiz then brings back questions from every week, so earlier concepts are retrieved again at the end of the course.
The radiograph track is longitudinal. It begins with introducing standard radiographic views over the first week, followed by three weeks of injury films capturing the most common orthopedic injuries. The goal is to train you to read radiographs proficiently and provide a formal radiographic interpretation in the structured language attendings expect on rounds.
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OrthoBASICS – Learn the basics, from bench science to bone surgery
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Day 1: Bone Biology & Remodeling
The cells, matrix, and remodeling cycle behind every fracture, implant, and healing bone. The foundation the rest of the course builds on.
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Day 2: Biomechanics
Stress, strain, and load-sharing. The mechanical vocabulary that explains fracture patterns and why implants are built the way they are.
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Day 3: Soft Tissue Healing
How tendon, ligament, cartilage, and muscle heal, and why some barely do. The biology behind sprains, cartilage lesions, and tendon injuries.
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Day 4: MSK Regional Anatomy
Bones, joints, and landmarks from shoulder to foot, plus the brachial and lumbosacral plexuses that explain every nerve exam.
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Day 5: Imaging & Radiograph Reading
A systematic framework for reading films, choosing the right modality, and avoiding the classic single-view misses.
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OrthoBONES – Short bones, long bones, flat bones, strong bones
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Day 6: Fracture Biology & Classification
How fractures heal, how we describe and classify them, and how the implant dictates the healing pathway.
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Day 7: Upper Extremity Fractures
Clavicle to hand: the high-yield injuries, their eponyms, the structures at risk, and the operative-versus-nonoperative call.
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Day 8: Lower Extremity Fractures 1: Pelvis & Femur
Pelvic ring to femoral shaft: the bleeding pelvis, acetabular columns, hip fractures by location, and caring for the geriatric hip.
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Day 9: Lower Extremity Fractures 2: Knee & Below
Distal femur to foot: plateau, tibial shaft, the ankle frameworks, and the injuries that quietly threaten the limb.
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Day 10: Pediatric Bone, Physeal & Hip Conditions
Why children's fractures behave differently. Salter-Harris, supracondylar, SCFE, DDH, and the time-sensitive can't-miss patterns.
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OrthoJOINTS – Repair, reconstruct, remember
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Day 11: Bone Pathology
When disease, not trauma, is the problem: osteoporosis, the suspicious bone lesion, and bone and joint infection.
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Day 12: Arthritis & Cartilage Pathology
The worn, inflamed, and infected joint, plus the cartilage-lesion framework that recurs across later regional lessons.
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Day 13: Shoulder & Elbow
The exams and pathology that localize shoulder and elbow pain, from rotator cuff and instability to the thrower's UCL.
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Day 14: Hip & Knee
Two of the busiest joints: separating hip from spine pain, the knee ligament exams, and the major injuries you'll see on rounds.
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Day 15: Arthroplasty, Arthroscopy & Sports
The operating-room side of orthopedics: joint replacement, arthroscopy, and the surgical cartilage-repair toolkit.
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OrthoADVANCED – Operate, escalate, match
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Day 16: Hand & Foot
Two intricate, heavily tested regions: compressive neuropathies, tendon problems, and the can't-miss hand infections.
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Day 17: Advanced Arthroplasty
When a replacement fails: instability, periprosthetic infection and fracture, aseptic loosening, and shoulder arthroplasty.
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Day 18: Spine
A practical framework for the region that makes students uneasy: degenerative conditions, thoracolumbar trauma, spinal cord injury, and the red flags.
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Day 19: Urgent & Emergent Conditions
The can't-miss lesson: open fractures, compartment syndrome, cauda equina, and the limb-threatening dislocations.
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Day 20: Residency Timeline & Sub-Internship Strategy
From clinical knowledge to a concrete match plan: the application year, sub-internships, and standing out on away rotations.
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All Lectures
Meet your instructor
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Meet your instructor ✳
PGY-5
AC
With 8 years of commitment to medical education thus far, I now split my professional time between two primary goals: (1) becoming the best orthopedic surgeon I can be for my future patients, and (2) striving to play my part in improving medical education. As a current orthopedic surgery resident, my passion for the latter has taken form in a few ways, and this course is just one of them. Questions or feedback? Reach out through the Contact page.
Course FAQ
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OrthoSCORER is completely free. We are dedicated to making high-quality orthopedic education accessible to all medical students preparing for residency. There are no fees or hidden costs associated with enrolling in the course, accessing the materials, or utilizing any of the provided resources.
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The OrthoSCORER course is designed to fit seamlessly into your busy schedule. You will need to dedicate approximately 45-60 minutes each day from Monday to Friday over a four-week period. That works out to about 4 to 5 hours per week. The course materials are accessible online, allowing you to engage with the content at your convenience, whether in the evening or at another time that suits you.
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No prior orthopedic-specific knowledge is required to enroll in OrthoSCORER. The course is structured to start with foundational concepts in Week 1: OrthoBASICS, progressively building up to more advanced topics in subsequent weeks. It is suitable for all medical students interested in preparing for orthopedic residency, regardless of their previous exposure to orthopedics.
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All course materials are accessible online through our dedicated OrthoSCORER page. The platform is user-friendly and compatible with both desktop and mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. This flexibility allows you to access the lecture presentations, radiograph-reading sets, and daily quizzes anytime and anywhere, fitting your study around clinical rotations and personal commitments.
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All twenty days are accessible from the start. The course is designed to be completed at one day per weekday over four weeks; the spaced retrieval design and longitudinal radiograph track work best when followed in order, but you can move at your own pace.