Frequency and impact of regional musculoskeletal disorders

Regional musculoskeletal disorders are a major cause of morbidity both in t he community and in the workplace. They comprise a heterogeneous group of c onditions that are, for the most part, poorly characterized. Consequently, agreed diagnostic criteria have not existed for many of these disorders, an d epidemiological investigations have used varied or ill-defined approaches to case definition. This chapter describes our current understanding of th e epidemiology of regional pain disorders and details the strengths and wea knesses of the available data. Pain syndromes can be divided anatomically i nto those which cause generalized pain, such as fibromyalgia syndrome and m yofascial pain syndromes, and those which are confined to one regional anat omical area. The latter group comprise those of the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist/hand, hip, knee and ankle/foot. Current information is considered on the known risk factors for disorders at these sites, in addition to their i mpact upon both the individual and society.