Rehabilitation and Care of Musculoskeletal Disorders

Dear Colleagues, 

We invite you to submit a manuscript to this Special Issue, titled “Rehabilitation and Care of Musculoskeletal Disorders". 

Musculoskeletal disorders comprise diverse conditions that might result from hereditary, congenital, or acquired pathologic processes, affecting bones, joints, muscles, and connective tissues. These disorders may result in pain and loss of function and are among the most disabling and costly conditions. Chronic pain and loss of function are the primary mechanism through which musculoskeletal disorders lead to disability and work loss. The Global Burden of Disease Study, which provides a comprehensive annual assessment of health loss related to specific diseases, injuries, and risk factors, consistently ranks musculoskeletal disorders among the top causes of disability. Strong evidence suggests that exercise and psychosocial interventions are effective at relieving pain and improving function across multiple common musculoskeletal pain conditions. The intervention descriptions for work-related musculoskeletal disorders include designing interventions with the goal of ergonomics to reduce stress and eliminate injuries and disorders associated with the overuse of muscles, bad posture, and repeated tasks. A workplace ergonomics program can aim to prevent or control injuries and illnesses by eliminating or reducing worker exposure to risk factors.

Despite major advances in the therapeutic approaches and findings of our research, there has been limited progress in the prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. In the literature, the heterogeneity of the study of therapeutic protocols and the lack of high-quality trials prevent validated results from being obtained and the generalizability of findings in terms of best practice for the healthcare management of these disorders. Further investigation of rehabilitation for the care of musculoskeletal disorders would benefit patients, researchers, and clinicians to be more efficient in their decision making. Studies on remote treatment, minimal oversight, smart technologies, and patient education strategies have been hot topics in this clinical field. In the context of rehabilitation, efficacy and effectiveness of a given treatment intervention can be examined in observational studies, robust randomized control trials, as well as high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

This Special Issue aims to publish original studies and reviews, including both clinical trials and observational studies, that examine treatment approaches and optimal dose–response effects. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following:·        

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of existing rehabilitation care on musculoskeletal disorder management;·        

RCTs studies investigating feasibility, efficacy, and effectiveness of therapeutic approaches;·        

Comparative studies of different therapeutic protocols to manage musculoskeletal disorders;·        

Studies investigating ergonomics, exercise, and the prevention of work-related disorders.  

We are pleased to invite you to provide clinicians and researchers with evidence-based recommendations regarding what should be used in rehabilitation, attracting novel, evidence-based, robust concepts in the care of musculoskeletal disorders.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Maria Moutzouri

Dr. George A. Koumantakis

Dr. Sofia Xergia
Guest Editors

Dr. Maria Moutzouri
Dr. George A. Koumantakis
Dr. Sofia Xergia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• musculoskeletal disorders
• low back pain
• arthritis
• tendinopathies
• chronic pain
• rehabilitation
• exercise
• ergonomics
• biomechanics
• psychosocial
• posture