ABSTRACT
Musculo-skeletal problems are very common within the community and make up around 15% of a general practitioner’s workload. There are also many people with joint pain who do not present to primary care: they consider muscle and joint pain to be a normal part of life, and particularly in the older age groups, an inevitable part of the ageing process and something which they must just endure. Therefore, the burden of disease within the community may be considerably greater than we think.
