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Topic · Pharmacology

Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation

Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation is a research topic within Pharmacology. Science Explorer counts 77k research works in it since 1950. 16.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the global burden, measurement properties, and management of chronic pain, with a specific emphasis on low back pain. It includes studies on the prevalence, incidence, and impact of chronic pain, as well as the development and validation of measurement instruments and clinical guidelines for its assessment and treatment.

  • Chronic Pain
  • Global Burden
  • Disability
  • Measurement Properties
  • Health Status Questionnaires
  • Low Back Pain
  • Psychological Factors
  • Clinical Trials
  • Epidemiology
  • Musculoskeletal Disorders
Research works
77k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
13k
per year above
Top-10% rate
16.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+24%
the tick is no change

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (3.1k and 1.1k works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 3.1k works
  2. 2 China 1.1k works
  3. 3 India 935 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 738 works
  5. 5 Türkiye 598 works
  6. 6 Canada 577 works
  7. 7 Australia 566 works
  8. 8 Germany 561 works
  9. 9 Brazil 548 works
  10. 10 Japan 538 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 33.9%China: 11.5%India: 10.1%United Kingdom: 8.0%6 others listed: 36.5%34%largest
United States3,146 · 33.9%China1,067 · 11.5%India935 · 10.1%United Kingdom738 · 8.0%6 others listed3,387 · 36.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Cairo University publishes the most Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation research, followed by The University of Sydney and Harvard University.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Cairo UniversityEgypt 58 works
  2. 2 The University of SydneyAustralia 48 works
  3. 3 Harvard UniversityUnited States 42 works
  4. 4 Sağlık Bilimleri ÜniversitesiTürkiye 38 works
  5. 5 University of Southern DenmarkDenmark 37 works
  6. 6 University of FloridaUnited States 35 works
  7. 7 The University of QueenslandAustralia 35 works
  8. 8 Physiotherapy New ZealandNew Zealand 35 works
  9. 9 University of MichiganUnited States 34 works
  10. 10 University of WashingtonUnited States 33 works

Who are the leading researchers in Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation include Andrea C. Tricco, Roger Chou and Isabelle Boutron.

  1. 1 Andrea C. Tricco Canada 18k citations
  2. 2 Roger Chou United States 14k citations
  3. 3 Isabelle Boutron France 14k citations
  4. 4 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 7.2k citations
  5. 5 Louisa Degenhardt Australia 5.7k citations
  6. 6 Wilmar B. Schaufeli Netherlands 5.3k citations
  7. 7 Rahman Shiri Finland 5.3k citations
  8. 8 Francesco Saverio Violante Italy 5.2k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation research done?

The largest centres of Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation research in 2022–2025 are London (United Kingdom), Tehran (Iran), Seoul (South Korea) and Istanbul (Türkiye). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Camperdown.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 176 works
  2. 2 Tehran Iran 173 works
  3. 3 Seoul South Korea 167 works
  4. 4 Istanbul Türkiye 162 works
  5. 5 Beijing China 151 works
  6. 6 Sydney Australia 139 works
  7. 7 Tokyo Japan 133 works
  8. 8 São Paulo Brazil 123 works
  9. 9 Boston United States 123 works
  10. 10 Paris France 122 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. CamperdownAU · 30.5 works32×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation than the world average.

See Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation on the map

Where is the best place to study Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation?

Among universities, judged by research, Shanghai University of Sport, Riphah International University and German Sport University Cologne score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 18.69%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Shanghai University of Sport: 10, 41.6%Riphah International University: 29, 2.7%German Sport University Cologne: 12, 14.5%Universidad Europea de Madrid: 13, 25.6%Akademii Wychowania Fizycznego im. Jerzego Kukuczki w Katowicach: 10, 28.5%Università Campus Bio-Medico: 11, 24.2%University of Southern Denmark: 37, 15.4%Cairo University: 58, 5.4%The University of Sydney: 48, 25.9%University of Lahore: 32, 3.1%Shanghai University …Universidad Europea …German Sport Univers…Riphah International…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Shanghai University of SportChina 67.641.6%10.7×10 +176.1%
2 Riphah International UniversityPakistan 58.42.7%13.6×29 +213.6%
3 German Sport University CologneGermany 55.514.5%14.0×12 +262.5%
4 Universidad Europea de MadridSpain 55.425.6%14.5×13
5 Akademii Wychowania Fizycznego im. Jerzego Kukuczki w KatowicachPoland 55.228.5%42.2×10 +76.0%
6 Università Campus Bio-MedicoItaly 53.824.2%10.3×11 +75.6%
7 University of Southern DenmarkDenmark 53.615.4%7.5×37 +44.8%
8 Cairo UniversityEgypt 52.55.4%4.8×58 +209.2%
9 The University of SydneyAustralia 51.125.9%3.2×48 +49.9%
10 University of LahorePakistan 50.93.1%11.9×32

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 24% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.