Holistic view on musculoskeletal rehabilitation

Dear colleagues,

Musculoskeletal pain is widely regarded as a biopsychosocial phenomenon, in which psychosocial factors may be predictive for the onset and maintenance of pain, but also as a physical condition that may be limited in its recovery due to psychological or social factors. Independent of the causality question, there is an abundant amount of research that musculoskeletal pain severely impacts the ability to participate in social activities, including sports, daily physical activity and work.

JBMR is a journal with a holistic view on musculoskeletal pain and therefore encourages authors to focus on a broad, multifactorial set of outcome parameters and study questions. In the current issue, Sarcevic and Tapavcevic study risk factors for subacromial pain in young athletes. They found significant differences between symptomatic athletes and healthy controls in a number of biomedical factors. Especially the young age of athletes involved made a clear call for action to prevent and treat early signs of subacromial pain, which can be up to 50% of the population in some sports.

The ability to work with musculoskeletal pain is a frequently lacked topic in many studies. Aminian-Far et al. describe a simple yet effective treatment method of kinesiotaping in a group of Iranian manual labour-

ers. They found that kinesiotaping is more effective on electro-physiological and functional outcomes. It is assumable that these light, conservative and simple interventions are highly cost-effective, especially from an employer’s perspective. Further research should study these questions.

Of course, research underlying mechanical and anatomical factors in musculoskeletal rehabilitation is also a main topic in JBMR. In the current issue, many biomedical studies are presented, providing deeper insights in these important relations and, in such, provide clear suggestions to improve the daily clinical practice of professionals working in the field of back and musculoskeletal pain.

In addition, JBMR publishes COVID-19 studies, which are made free to read because of their tremendous impact on the world. The Editor’s Choice of this issue is granted to the impactful study by Cho and Kang on home-based rehabilitation in the COVID-19 pandemic on elderly patients with ankylosing spondylitis. They conducted a survey among experts to examine how home exercises would be helpful to patients exercising at home. The overall consensus of experts was that patients would benefit from regular low-intensity exercises, such as stretching.

We hope you enjoy reading this exciting new issue!