Common adult orthopaedic injuries
How common adult orthopaedic injuries present and are managed: dislocations, fractures, sprains and tenosynovitis, with mechanism, imaging and treatment.
Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026
Musculoskeletal and connective tissue
Diseases of bones, joints, muscles and connective tissue, including rheumatological and orthopaedic problems.
Introduction
Musculoskeletal medicine covers injuries of bone, joint and soft tissue, back pain, bone disease, arthritis and the autoimmune connective tissue diseases. Most problems are recognised by the pattern: which joint, how fast, inflammatory or mechanical, and whether other organs are involved.
This section starts with injuries and soft tissue problems, then back pain and bone disease, arthritis, and finally the connective tissue diseases and vasculitis.
Every topic uses the same layout: a short summary, what you should be able to do afterwards, the mechanism, the clinical picture, tests, treatment and the traps. Doses, thresholds and criteria are checked against named guidelines and shown with their source, because guidelines and countries sometimes differ.
How to study musculoskeletal and connective tissue
Learn musculoskeletal medicine with one question first: is the joint pain inflammatory or mechanical? Morning stiffness, swelling and raised inflammatory markers point one way; pain with use and bony enlargement point the other. A hot swollen single joint is septic until proved otherwise.
Learn the diagnostic tests and the emergencies: crystal analysis of joint fluid, the autoantibody that goes with each disease, the red flags of back pain, compartment syndrome and giant cell arteritis, where a delay costs a limb or sight. The check-yourself questions at the end of each topic test them a few days later.
Link this chapter to others: many connective tissue diseases involve the kidney, lung, skin and nervous system, and the injuries meet emergency medicine and surgery.
Contents by part
The topics below are in teaching order. Each part builds on the one before it.
- Injuries and soft tissue. Common adult orthopaedic injuries, the knee, compartment syndrome, nerve entrapment, tendon and bursal problems, and hand, foot and sports conditions.
- Back pain and bone disease. Low back pain and spinal stenosis, bone tumours, bone metastases and metabolic and congenital bone disease.
- Arthritis. The painful joint, osteoarthritis, crystal arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis and arthritis in children.
- Connective tissue disease and vasculitis. Lupus, scleroderma, myositis and Sjogren syndrome, antiphospholipid syndrome, vasculitis, giant cell arteritis, autoinflammatory disease and fibromyalgia.
- Systemic lupus erythematosus
- Systemic sclerosis and Raynaud phenomenon
- Polymyositis, dermatomyositis and Sjogren syndrome
- Antiphospholipid syndrome and connective tissue overlap
- Vasculitis: ANCA, Behcet and medium-vessel disease
- Giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica
- Autoinflammatory disease and Still disease
- Fibromyalgia
Topics
Knee injuries and ligament tears
How knee ligaments and menisci tear, from mechanism and exam to MRI and from brace or physiotherapy to reconstruction, with tests, cut-offs and guidelines.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Compartment syndrome
A surgical emergency: raised pressure inside a fascial compartment cuts off tissue perfusion; pain on passive stretch is the warning sign.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Carpal tunnel syndrome and entrapment neuropathies
Carpal tunnel syndrome and other entrapment neuropathies: risk factors, tests, guideline-based management and differentials.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Bursitis, tendinopathy and overuse injuries
How bursitis and tendinopathy present, how to tell them apart, and how to treat them: rest, exercise, NSAIDs, injections and infection cautions.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Hand, foot and sports conditions in adults
Trigger finger, Dupuytren contracture, ganglion, hallux valgus, plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, exercise prescription and return to play in adults.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026
Herniated disc, spinal stenosis and low back pain
Low back pain, disc herniation and spinal stenosis: red flags, radiculopathy, claudication, MRI and step-by-step management.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Primary bone tumours in adults
Primary bone tumours in adults: benign and malignant bone tumours, how they present on imaging, how they are staged, and how specialist centres treat them.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Soft tissue sarcoma
Malignant tumours of mesenchymal tissue: the common adult subtypes, red-flag lumps, diagnosis before excision, staging, wide excision, radiotherapy and.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Bone metastases and pathological fracture
How cancer spreads to bone, why bone breaks, and how we prevent and fix pathological fractures: Mirels scoring, bone-targeted agents and surgery.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Metabolic and congenital bone disease in adults
How inherited and systemic bone disorders present in adults, from osteogenesis imperfecta to avascular necrosis, with diagnosis and management.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Joint examination and approach to the painful joint
How to examine a painful joint, separate inflammatory from mechanical pain, and work up mono- and polyarthritis safely from history to aspiration.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Osteoarthritis
A whole-joint disease of progressive cartilage loss and osteophyte formation: how it presents in the hand, knee and hip, and how to manage it.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Gout and pseudogout
Crystal arthritis from urate and calcium pyrophosphate: diagnosis, flares, urate lowering therapy and pseudogout.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Rheumatoid arthritis
Chronic autoimmune synovitis of small joints: pathophysiology, diagnosis, DMARD and biologic treatment, and prognosis.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Spondyloarthritis and ankylosing spondylitis
Chronic inflammatory spondyloarthritides: classification, HLA-B27 biology, clinical features, BASDAI cut-offs, NSAID strategy, TNF and IL-17 inhibitors per.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Juvenile idiopathic arthritis and paediatric rheumatology
JIA in children and adolescents: ILAR subtypes, uveitis screening, macrophage activation syndrome, systemic disease and evidence-based treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Systemic lupus erythematosus
Chronic autoimmune multi-organ disease: diagnosis, complications and guideline-based treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Systemic sclerosis and Raynaud phenomenon
Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma): limited and diffuse forms, autoantibodies, renal crisis, lung disease, vascular and Raynaud features.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Polymyositis, dermatomyositis and Sjogren syndrome
A clinician's guide to polymyositis, dermatomyositis and Sjogren syndrome: weakness, rashes, dryness, antibodies, malignancy screening and treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Antiphospholipid syndrome and connective tissue overlap
Antiphospholipid syndrome: diagnostic criteria, thrombosis and pregnancy loss, EULAR 2019 management, plus mixed and undifferentiated connective tissue.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Vasculitis: ANCA, Behcet and medium-vessel disease
Chapel Hill classification, ANCA-associated vasculitis, Behcet disease, polyarteritis nodosa, ANCA testing, and treatment with cyclophosphamide and rituximab.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica
Giant cell arteritis threatens vision and is curable if glucocorticoids start today; learn PMR dosing, biopsy, imaging and tocilizumab.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026Autoinflammatory disease and Still disease
Autoinflammatory fever syndromes: FMF, TRAPS, CAPS, colchicine and IL-1 inhibition, amyloidosis risk; plus adult-onset Still disease.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia: widespread pain, central sensitisation, the 2016 ACR criteria, sleep and mood problems, and stepwise exercise- and medicine-based care.Checked against sourcesVerified 1 November 2026