Musculoskeletal Key

Introduction The population of the developed world is ageing rapidly. The problems of the elderly have come to dominate orthopaedic and trauma services. There are a number of special problems:…

Definition Sports medicine is at one end of the spectrum of musculoskeletal disorders in that it relates to individuals who have very high expectations of their bodies, and who also…

Neurological disorders There are multitudes of neurological disorders that may present in an orthopaedic clinic. These can vary from polio, which has now almost disappeared from the developed world (but…

Introduction Although many of the treatments for inflammatory disease such as RA have been around for several decades, knowledge about the pathogenesis of disease has highlighted several new therapeutic options….

Introduction The majority of rheumatological diseases are long-term chronic conditions, occasionally associated with considerable disability. Even in a stable or slowly progressive disease such as RA, discrete events such as…

Introduction The inflammatory muscle diseases polymyositis and dermatomyositis are characterised by an inflammation of striated muscle. As with other conditions in the spectrum of connective tissue disease, they can occur…

The commonest vasculitides are giant cell arteritis and Kawasaki disease. Despite their rarity, the medium and small vessel vasculitides are important diagnoses to be familiar with: as multi-system diseases they…

The basics Scleroderma is a heterogeneous condition characterised by progressive fibrosis, widespread vascular disease and immunological abnormalities. It is divided into limited cutaneous disease (formerly known as CREST syndrome) and…