Reversing the Tide of the Growing Burden of Avoidable Musculoskeletal Pain and Disability
Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, including inflammatory rheumatic diseases, osteoarthritis, back pain, and fragility fractures, are the leading cause of disability in most countries,1 yet there is a lack of policies and priorities for their prevention and treatment.2 As a consequence, there is a lack of health services to provide access to appropriate care at the right time to prevent disability, which is now a reality for many rheumatic and MSK conditions. There have been dramatic changes in the expected outcome for inflammatory rheumatic diseases, with remission being a realistic goal,3 but this is not achievable without access to modern treatment. The variations in timely access to appropriate management are leading to very visible differences in outcomes for people with MSK conditions, in particular, those with inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Despite all countries being committed to the World Health Organization (WHO) policy of universal health coverage,4 whereby “all people and
