The State of Musculoskeletal Health

The State of Musculoskeletal Health is Arthritis UK's collection of the most up-to-date, UK-wide statistics on arthritis and other musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. 

It is a resource for healthcare professionals, policy makers, public heath leads, researchers, people with these conditions, and anyone interested in MSK health. We believe that with the best information you can build awareness, make more informed decisions, feel more confident and ultimately help more people with MSK conditions, such as arthritis.

The impact of arthritis

Over 10 million adults, young people and children in the UK live with arthritis. That’s one in six people living with the pain, fatigue, disability, mental and financial strain it can cause. The impact can be huge, affecting the ability to work, care for family, and even live independently.

Yet, despite how many it affects, arthritis is poorly understood and far too little is done. At Arthritis UK, we fund life-changing research into better treatments, offer information and support, and campaign on the issues that matter most to people living with it.

Methods

Data, information, and insights about MSK conditions such as arthritis are available from numerous sources. At Arthritis UK, we judge all evidence based on individual merit and ‘good evidence’ is evidence that accurately represents the needs, experiences, and perspectives of people with arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions.

Different types of evidence can help answer different types of questions.

The key is to select evidence based on the question and what is most relevant and useful for answering it.

Hierarchy of evidence

It is important to note that while such frameworks have their merits in specific contexts, they are not without their limitations, as ranking evidence in this way may indirectly favour certain sources of evidence over others.

The evidence in this report mainly comes from quantitative studies and real-world evidence. However, it also includes evidence that has been generated from other methodological approaches, some of which may not rank highly in such hierarchies.

This kind of evidence, drawing on lived experience of MSK conditions such as arthritis, adds increased depth and context to some of the statistics we present in this report.

How to use the report

The report is a resource for healthcare professionals, policy makers, public health leads, people with these conditions, and anyone interested in MSK health. We believe that with the best information you can build awareness, make more informed decisions, feel more confident and ultimately help more people with MSK conditions, such as arthritis.

Reading the report

We are working hard to make our information accessible to all. If you have any issues reading or accessing this document, please do let us know by emailing creative@arthritis-uk.org and we will aim to correct it in the next edition.

If you would like to have access to previous versions of the State of Musculoskeletal Health, or if you have any questions, please do get in touch with us by sending an email to data@arthritis-uk.org