Table 2.
Ranked research avenues
| Score | Domain | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank 1 | ||
| Develop and test new treatments to prevent or reduce progression of musculoskeletal conditions. | 18·0 | LW |
| Rank 2 | ||
| Identify the best ways to manage pain or improve quality of life. | 16·5 | LW |
| Rank 3 | ||
| Develop and test approaches to help people with MSK conditions make lasting changes to improve their health. | 16·0 | LW |
| Develop and test ways to target and personalise treatments to each individual. | 16·0 | LW |
| Find out how to improve accurate and earlier diagnosis of MSK conditions. | 16·0 | D |
| Find out more about the benefits, safety, and best ways to use exercise or rehabilitation. | 16·0 | LW |
| Identify biological targets to develop new treatments that change the course of disease. | 16·0 | M |
| Identify disease processes that will allow better targeting of treatment to improve people's outcome. | 16·0 | M |
| Identify how to earlier predict the progress of MSK conditions. | 16·0 | M |
| Identify the best way to deliver the best support and information to help people effectively self-manage their condition. | 16·0 | LW |
| Identify the surgical techniques, technologies, and implants that help people the most. | 16·0 | LW |
| Identify tools, tests, and markers that can diagnose disease at an early stage and inform whether the disease will progress and respond to treatment. | 16·0 | M |
| Investigate how best to combine treatments. | 16·0 | LW |
| Study biological disease processes to identify ways to predict whether MSK conditions will develop or existing conditions will progress during someone's lifetime. | 16·0 | M |
| Study how chronic pain develops. | 16·0 | M |
| Study how new clinical, biological, and genetic and technology approaches can monitor the effectiveness of treatments. | 16·0 | T |
| Study how new clinical, biological, genetic, and technology approaches can improve diagnosis. | 16·0 | T |
| Study the effect of lifestyle (eg, work and exercise) on how MSK conditions develop and progress. | 16·0 | M |
| Study whether a better understanding of disease processes can be used to develop new ways of preventing MSK conditions. | 16·0 | M |
| Test new ways of making sure the right person gets the right treatment. | 16·0 | D |
| Understand disease processes so that we can better identify differences (subgroups of people) within the same condition. | 16·0 | M |
| Understand how MSK tissues repair themselves and how this could be enhanced to improve MSK conditions. | 16·0 | M |
| Understand the best ways of providing research-proven treatments to people, including where, when, and by whom. | 16·0 | T |
| Understand the links between tissue damage and pain. | 16·0 | M |
| Understand why people's pain experiences are different and why some people develop chronic pain when others do not. | 16·0 | M |
| Rank 4 | ||
| Understand the biological links between MSK conditions and other illnesses. | 15·5 | M |
| Rank 5 | ||
| Develop and test approaches to identify and help people with MSK conditions who need psychological support. | 15·0 | LW |
| Develop better ways to overcome the known difficulties in the process of turning a possible effective treatment into a safe, licensed product. | 15·0 | T |
| Find better ways to speed up the uptake of research results into treatment guidelines and policy. | 15·0 | T |
| Identify and find ways to address gaps in health-care professional knowledge about MSK conditions. | 15·0 | LW |
| Identify the best approaches to improving communication about MSK conditions between patients and their health-care professionals. | 15·0 | LW |
| Identify the best ways to improve outcomes after surgery. | 15·0 | LW |
| Improve how information from lab-based research and clinical trials is used to safely speed up making the best treatments available. | 15·0 | T |
| Investigate ways to speed up the process of turning scientific research findings into effective treatments. | 15·0 | T |
| Study how diet and gut bacteria can change the risk of developing MSK conditions. | 15·0 | M |
| Study how genes or ethnicity affect how MSK conditions develop. | 15·0 | M |
| Study how injury can lead to an increased risk of developing MSK conditions. | 15·0 | M |
| Study the role of inflammation in non-inflammatory MSK conditions. | 15·0 | M |
| Understand and overcome the barriers preventing research-proven tests and treatments being put into practice. | 15·0 | T |
| Understand how key biological disease processes drive development and progress of MSK conditions. | 15·0 | M |
| Understand how sex hormones and menopause change the risk of MSK conditions. | 15·0 | M |
| Rank 6 | ||
| Better understand the benefit, safety, and use of existing medicines, including injections. | 14·0 | LW |
| Decide the best ways of delivering remote care for people. | 14·0 | LW |
| Define the risk factors in MSK conditions that might predict important outcomes or enable screening. | 14·0 | D |
| Identify any groups of patients or patterns within a condition that inform on the course or outcomes of MSK conditions. | 14·0 | D |
| Identify the best aids, supports, and other devices to help people live well. | 14·0 | LW |
| Identify the best lifestyle interventions. | 14·0 | LW |
| Set up and test new ways of using electronic health records for accurate, earlier diagnosis, and personalised monitoring. | 14·0 | D |
| Set up and test whether patients holding their own health data records helps them better manage their condition and make decisions with their clinician. | 14·0 | D |
| Study whether making changes to risk factors can prevent or delay the start of MSK conditions. | 14·0 | D |
| Study the best way of bringing together scientists, clinicians, industry, policy makers, and people with MSK conditions to improve the development of early research towards better available treatments. | 14·0 | T |
| Study the best way of sharing the results of research with clinicians, scientists, policy makers, and people with MSK conditions. | 14·0 | T |
| Study the best ways to measure the true effects of MSK conditions on individuals. | 14·0 | D |
| Test artificial intelligence approaches to analyse electronic health records and other large databases, (eg, of x-rays or scans) to improve care. | 14·0 | D |
| Test how clinical tools, tests, and markers can improve diagnosis. | 14·0 | D |
| Understand and address the reasons why everyone with a particular MSK condition does not have the same access to care. | 14·0 | LW |
| Understand and address the reasons why everyone with MSK conditions does not receive minimum standards of care. | 14·0 | LW |
| Understand and address the reasons why people have difficulty or delays accessing care. | 14·0 | LW |
| Understand and meet people's needs for monitoring and review of their condition. | 14·0 | LW |
| Understand how having an early diagnosis affects people, health care, and society. | 14·0 | D |
| Understand the best ways to diagnose and describe MSK conditions. Define features of relevant smaller groups within the same condition which make a difference to outcomes or care. | 14·0 | D |
| Understand the links between MSK and other long-term conditions, and the effect they have on people, work, and society. | 14·0 | D |
| Understand the reasons why diagnosis is sometimes delayed, and how best to reduce delays. | 14·0 | D |
| Rank 7 | ||
| Find out how to produce a better estimate of the true cost of long-term MSK conditions to people and society. | 13·0 | D |
| Understand how changes in society, work, and people's circumstances, including finances, might lower the risk or effects of MSK conditions. | 13·0 | D |
| Rank 8 | ||
| Study the pros and cons of screening for MSK conditions for people, health care, and society. | 12·0 | D |
| Study whether increasing public awareness of MSK conditions will encourage people to have a healthier lifestyle, get an earlier diagnosis, and better care. | 12·0 | D |
| Study whether new ways of collecting and using standard health data will improve people's care and help society. | 12·0 | D |
Within each rank, avenues are presented in alphabetical order. LW=living well. D=diagnosis. T=translation. M=mechanisms.