Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation

Chronic musculoskeletal pain—particularly low back pain—affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and ranks among the leading causes of long-term disability, placing enormous strain on healthcare systems and economies alike. Pharmacological research in this space examines how drugs interact with pain pathways, how treatment effects are measured reliably across diverse populations, and how psychological factors such as catastrophizing and fear-avoidance shape both the experience of pain and a patient's response to therapy. A central challenge is that the tools used to assess health status and treatment outcomes—questionnaires measuring function, disability, and quality of life—vary widely in their measurement properties, making it difficult to compare findings across clinical trials. Ongoing work focuses on validating and standardizing these instruments, refining clinical guidelines to account for the multidimensional nature of chronic pain, and identifying which patients are most likely to benefit from specific pharmacological interventions versus multimodal or psychologically informed approaches.

Works

151,259

Total citations

2,564,604

Keywords

Chronic PainGlobal BurdenDisabilityMeasurement PropertiesHealth Status QuestionnairesLow Back Pain