I could not believe my eyes when I saw a headline in The British Muddical Journal (13 October 2023) proclaiming some great news: 'GPs can refer patients with low back pain to apps, says NICE.' So now at last we have the answer to this ubiquitous problem: apps! The object of this wonderful move is to help these [...]

The British Medical Journal (BMJ), which boasts of being one of the world’s oldest general medical journals, from time to time publishes articles intended to guide general practitioners and other doctors on how to diagnose and treat musculoskeletal disorders. These are the very common ailments affecting the moving parts of the body (the joints, muscles, and tendons) [...]

In March this year The British Medical Journal (BMJ) published an article on ‘Low back pain in people aged 60 years and over’. The authors rightly remind doctors to have a higher index of suspicion for cancer, infections, and bone fractures in older people, but otherwise the approach to back pain is largely the same as in younger [...]

These words were spoken to me by the late Dr James Cyriax. He was lamenting the fact that he didn’t get the recognition he felt he deserved for his seminal work in diagnosing and treating the ubiquitous disorders of back pain, sciatica, shoulder pain, etc. Even after his death in 1985 his work has been largely ignored. A [...]

Dr James Cyriax, 1904 - 1985 When I was training to be a general practitioner I realised there were many patients suffering from disorders of the moving parts of the body. That is, pain felt in the muscles or joints, such as stiff neck, shoulder pains, backache, sciatica, tennis elbow, etc. Further, it soon became clear to me [...]