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Orthopaedics is taught in final year and examined inside Surgery Paper 2, but NEET PG asks it as a subject of its own, mostly through X-rays, fractures and nerve injuries. This guide sets out what toppers and students did with it, including the question every final-year student asks: main videos, or only rapid revision?
Orthopaedics gets roughly 6 to 10 questions in 2026 estimates: 6–8 on PW's July 2026 pattern page and 8–10 in PrepLadder's January 2026 list of expected topics. A recall of the 2025 paper counted 5 (MedExamsPrep). Analysts also read 2025 differently: Cerebellum listed Orthopaedics among the subjects that “took centre stage”, while DBMCI grouped it with the subjects that had low representation.
The format is visual. PrepLadder counts Orthopaedics among the five subjects that supply most image-based questions, with Radiology, Anatomy, Ophthalmology and Microbiology, and its review of 2026 described the Orthopaedics questions on fractures, nerve injuries and musculoskeletal anatomy as image-based and clinical. Recalled 2026 topics include a Lisfranc fracture-dislocation and the Terry-Thomas sign of scapholunate dissociation (Sartha). PrepLadder also expects video questions on gaits and examination.
Much of Orthopaedics rests on limb anatomy. PrepLadder's 2026 Anatomy list includes nerve injuries of the upper and lower limb, and ReflexPrep flags nerve injury at specific fracture sites. When you revise the brachial plexus, note the fracture that puts each nerve at risk. Any early Orthopaedics posting is the time to look at casts, traction and the common X-rays.
Orthopaedics is taught in final year and examined within Surgery Paper 2. Maheshwari & Mhaskar's Essential Orthopaedics is the long-standing undergraduate favourite and DigiNerve's choice of primary text; its suggested order is the textbook first, then lectures and videos. DigiNerve also puts clinical examination, procedure videos, X-rays, implants and instruments first, which serves the practical exam too.
This is when students ask whether short subjects need main videos at all; the faculty section answers it from toppers' lists. Whichever route you take, start Orthopaedics image MCQs alongside and sit Grand Tests from final year, as Dr Naisargi (AIR 19, NEET PG 2025) did. See the final-year guide.
Orthopaedics and casualty postings put fractures, dislocations and plasters in front of you daily. Read each film against your notes and note the nerve and vessel at risk; DigiNerve's intern advice is to use real patients to memorise signs, and Dr Ajay (INI-CET AIR 11) linked what he saw on the ward with what he studied.
Give Orthopaedics a focused block of about two weeks in the first cycle; Oncourse's 2026 guide suggests two to three weeks of focused study for it. After that, revisit it through images and PYQs in every revision cycle instead of re-watching lectures. Dr Sahed (AIR 13, 2025) warned students not to ignore the short subjects.
In student-written faculty lists, the Orthopaedics teacher recommended most is Dr Abbas Ali (Marrow), named in two independent posts (a 2020 student post and an undated platform-comparison blog). Dr Apurv Mehra, a Cerebellum founder who wrote a quick-review book for PG preparation, is the other name. In 2025–26 resource videos, Orthopaedics usually appears as a rapid-revision subject rather than with a named teacher.
Final-year students ask this under YouTube strategy videos again and again, for all the short subjects. Toppers' habits give a split answer. If you studied Orthopaedics properly for the university exam, their lists show rapid revision (Marrow RR, BTR, PrepLadder's Rapid Revision or similar) plus the Qbank and PYQs; a Marrow user commenting under Dr Sukriti Kaushik's AIR 87 resource video took the final-year short subjects from RR. If fractures and nerve injuries still feel new, watch the main videos once, because rapid revision assumes that base, then revise from RR at least twice.
Covered Orthopaedics, Anaesthesia and Dermatology with Marrow rapid revision plus BTR, and kept one primary source per subject.
Watched main videos for the clinical subjects, then did three revision cycles for major subjects and two for short ones.
| Platform | Orthopaedics teacher | Course |
|---|---|---|
| Marrow | Dr Abbas Ali | Edition 8.5 “Clinical Edge” |
| PrepLadder | Dr Jambukeswaran | Version XI |
| Cerebellum | Dr Apurv Mehra (founder) and Dr Yusuf Ali Tyagi | Mission 4.0 |
| DBMCI One | Dr Sushil Vijay | Live ’27 |
| DocTutorials | Dr Rohith Daniel | Edition 6 |
| PW MedEd | Dr Alekhya | One Plan |
Rosters as listed on each platform's own 2026 course pages (read 2 Oct 2026). Teachers do change between editions, so check the course page before you buy.
Mixing costs little in a short subject. A common pattern in toppers' lists is one main platform for questions and mock tests plus a single revision course across the short subjects; the platform comparison covers the courses.
DigiNerve advises revising X-ray images every day. PrepLadder's 2026 image list covers fracture types (greenstick, hairline, torus, avulsion, wedge compression, impacted), signs such as Shenton's line, the Hawkins sign and Codman's triangle, tests for anterior shoulder dislocation, MRI in bone tumours and patterns of joint involvement. Learn eponymous fractures and signs (Lisfranc, Monteggia, Colles, Terry-Thomas) with their pictures rather than as a word list; two of them were 2026 recall topics. Add instruments, implants and clinical deformities, which DigiNerve lists for daily drill.
| Area | What to know |
|---|---|
| Fracture classifications | Garden (femoral neck), Neer (proximal humerus), Weber (ankle), Salter-Harris (growth plate), Gustilo-Anderson (open fractures), Gartland (supracondylar). Know what each grade changes in treatment. |
| Upper-limb trauma | Supracondylar, Colles and Monteggia fractures, anterior shoulder dislocation and its tests, scapholunate dissociation with the Terry-Thomas sign (2026). |
| Lower limb, pelvis and foot | Hip fractures and Shenton's line, knee and ankle injuries, talar fractures and the Hawkins sign, Lisfranc fracture-dislocation (2026). |
| Peripheral nerve injuries | Which fracture injures which nerve, and the deformity that follows. |
| Fracture basics | Definition, classification and healing, complications, open fractures, polytrauma and the ATLS protocol. |
| Bone tumours | Recognising osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma, Codman's triangle, age–site–X-ray patterns. Rare tumours are on PrepLadder's skip list. |
| Paediatric orthopaedics | Greenstick and torus fractures, growth-plate injuries and how children's fractures differ. |
| Infection and metabolic bone disease | TB spine, bone and joint infections, osteoporosis, rickets. |
| Arthritis, spine and sports injuries | Joint-involvement patterns, spine pathology, common sports injuries and regional conditions. |
| Instruments, implants and gaits | Common implants and instruments, clinical deformities, and gait clips for video questions. |
Compiled from PrepLadder's 2026 topic, image and skip lists, DigiNerve's 2025–26 guides, a 2026 Oncourse checklist, older DBMCI lists and 2025–26 recalls (Sartha, PrepLadder).
Fracture definition, classification, healing and complications, polytrauma and ATLS basics; then shoulder, arm, elbow, forearm and wrist, with the nerve at risk in each.
Hip and femur, knee, ankle and foot, pelvis and spinal injuries. Add every fracture to your classification sheet and nerve table as you go.
Paediatric orthopaedics, bone and joint infections, metabolic bone disease, bone tumours, arthritis, spine and regional conditions, following PrepLadder's 2026 category list.
One sitting for X-rays and signs, one for instruments, implants, deformities and gait clips.
Work through the Orthopaedics PYQs by topic, sit one subject test, then finalise the two sheets you will revise from until the exam.
During internship, take Orthopaedics as a short block when duties allow; DigiNerve's intern plan puts the short subjects together in month four with weekly mocks. On ortho and casualty days, revise the fractures you saw and do a few image MCQs on them that evening. The internship guide shows where the short subjects fit.
2026 estimates put it at about 6–10 questions (PW 6–8, PrepLadder 8–10), and a 2025 recall counted 5. Most are image-based or clinical.
If you studied it well for the final-year exam, toppers' lists show rapid revision plus the Qbank and PYQs; Dr Sanika Mahar (INI-CET AIR 155) used Marrow RR and BTR. If it feels new, watch the main videos once, then revise from RR at least twice.
Dr Abbas Ali (Marrow), Dr Jambukeswaran (PrepLadder), Dr Apurv Mehra and Dr Yusuf Ali Tyagi (Cerebellum), Dr Sushil Vijay (DBMCI One), Dr Rohith Daniel (DocTutorials) and Dr Alekhya (PW MedEd). Student write-ups name Dr Abbas Ali most often.
Garden, Neer, Weber, Salter-Harris, Gustilo-Anderson and Gartland. Learn each with its X-ray and the treatment decision it drives, not as a list of names.
Maheshwari & Mhaskar's Essential Orthopaedics is the standard in most lists, with the Manipal Manual as an alternative. For NEET PG, revise from notes and X-rays rather than a textbook.
Colour or high-contrast printing keeps fracture lines readable on the X-ray pages; text pages can go in black and white. Send your PDF on WhatsApp; it binds as one slim volume.
Send your Orthopaedics PDF on WhatsApp, whether it is a rapid-revision set, BTR, platform main notes or your own sheets. We print the X-ray pages in colour, bind the subject as one slim book and ship it anywhere in India.
Order on WhatsAppExam analyses, topper interviews and student resource videos from 2024–26, read in October 2026.