Otsuka orthopedic clinic (Takamatsu, Kagawa)

We spoke with Dr. Yasushi Otsuka, who opened the “Otsuka Orthopedic Surgery Hospital” in 2016 in the center of Takamatsu City, Chuo-cho.

Currently, I am the vice president, and it is said that I inherited the position from my father. But I was never told to become a doctor. I think I received an indirect understanding that the profession of a doctor is wonderful.




During my student years, I wanted to become a surgeon, but when I saw people who couldn’t move during their internship in orthopedics being able to move again, I was drawn to improving the quality of life and function of my patients.


Mr. Otsuka graduated from Okayama University School of Medicine and studied at Kurilinn Hospital and Royal Adelaide Hospital. He has been working at Kagawa Prefectural Central Hospital since 1999. I asked him about the circumstances of starting his own practice in 2016.

I was working at a key hospital near my hometown within the Okayama University system, but I had a desire to return here eventually, at least by the age of 50. I opened my own practice when I turned 50. At Central Hospital, I was in charge of spinal surgery. Although I had no qualms about being away from surgery once I opened my own practice, I decided to use this experience to run my clinic.

Even after opening the clinic, I built a facility that can perform block injections to accommodate spinal cord surgery. In addition, I planned to focus on rehabilitation to build up the muscles properly. Since orthopedic surgery is often associated with chronic diseases, even if you undergo surgery, you must ensure that you recover quickly by doing rehabilitation. Therefore, I decided to offer rehabilitation specifically focused on strengthening important muscles.

The Otsuka Orthopedic Surgery Hospital, which was before handed down to Mr. Yasushi Otsuka, is located next to the current building. When Mr. Otsuka became the hospital’s director in 2016, this building was newly built.

Purchasing this land next to the original hospital became a big step towards starting my own practice. First, to improve patient convenience, I initially converted this space into a parking lot, and then considered remodeling the old hospital. I asked a first-class architect from my class to design it, but after simulating the results, I decided to renovate and build a new hospital. I converted the first floor into parking space, and the clinic itself is located on the second floor. Specifically, for orthopedic patients who have difficulty walking, a single-story design is preferable, but that can be solved by installing an elevator.

The hospital has examination rooms, treatment rooms, X-ray rooms, rehabilitation rooms, block treatment rooms, and operating rooms. The equipment includes a X-ray machine that can take cross-sectional images in the X-ray room, and ultrasound imaging equipment.

The rehabilitation room is a spacious space on the entire 3rd floor, and we have also taken into account brightness and cleanliness to ensure that patients receive rehabilitation treatment in a comfortable environment.

What I realized when starting my practice was that the patients who come to the clinic are in pain and want it to be relieved. Of course, accurately diagnosing the underlying disease is important, but I realized that they are being asked to relieve the pain on the spot. I had to change my thinking from the way I was as a staff doctor who performed a lot of surgeries, and that was in a sense a fresh experience. I believe that it is important to first alleviate the pain with injections and medication. I also use rehabilitation as one of the methods to restore the patient's motor function, as well as to reduce the pain. Then we will proceed with strengthening the muscles. For example, in the case of a disease with severe pain such as a herniated disc, we use medication and injections to relieve the pain, and at the same time we use rehabilitation to strengthen the muscles. However, if the symptoms do not improve, we will perform a block injection and, if that still doesn't work, we will consider the maximum amount of conservative treatment available before surgery. The most important thing is strengthening the muscles, but it is difficult to train them when there is pain, so we are considering various methods to alleviate the patient's pain.

When opening the clinic, I told the staff that I wanted them to become professionals who could guide patients in the right direction. While it is important for medical professionals and patients to have a thorough discussion and decide on what direction to go together, I think it is inappropriate to make the patient decide everything. I want the staff to have the pride of being a medical professional based on the traditional spirit of patternism in a positive way. This aspiration remains unchanged even now, three years after the opening of the clinic. I think the staff are already quite capable of implementing it. I would like them to continue self-improvement and work together to improve.

To ensure that Exercise Therapy I can be used by many patients, we have made it a reservation-based service. In the rehabilitation room, physiotherapists, mainly five therapists, are actively involved.

While there are machines involved in strengthening muscle strength through exercise therapy, waterbeds and other physical therapy equipment are designed to alleviate symptoms. In particular, a waterbed is a great tool. I think it’s also important to provide equipment that makes these patients feel comfortable.

Before using physical therapy to improve blood flow and relieve pain, it’s also helpful to move the joints. This is a great way to effectively relieve pain. Furthermore, with the right equipment and budget, I’d like to incorporate new and innovative techniques.

The staff is very helpful. They can quickly respond to any problems with the equipment, so it helps a lot. Since it’s hard to get new information when you’re here, it’s nice that they can at least provide me with some information.

One of the things that Japan Medicus can do is to convey information to the hospital staff, of course, but also to the hospital’s chief doctors.

In the future, we plan to hold a study group for rehabilitation staff members.