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Review
. 2020 Apr 23;9(4):1216.
doi: 10.3390/jcm9041216.

Common Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Elderly: The Star Triad

Marco Alessandro Minetto  1 , Alessandro Giannini  1 , Rebecca McConnell  1 , Chiara Busso  1 , Guglielmo Torre  2 , Giuseppe Massazza  1
Affiliations
Review

Common Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Elderly: The Star Triad

Marco Alessandro Minetto et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Musculoskeletal disorders are debilitating conditions that significantly impair the state of health, especially in elderly subjects. A pathological triad of inter-related disorders that are highly prevalent in the elderly consists of the following main "components": sarcopenia, tendinopathies, and arthritis. The aim of this review is to critically appraise the literature relative to the different disorders of this triad, in order to highlight the pathophysiological common denominator and propose strategies for personalized clinical management of patients presenting with this combination of musculoskeletal disorders. Their pathophysiological common denominator is represented by progressive loss of (focal or generalized) neuromuscular performance with a risk of adverse outcomes such as pain, mobility disorders, increased risk of falls and fractures, and impaired ability or disability to perform activities of daily living. The precise management of these disorders requires not only the use of available tools and recently proposed operational definitions, but also the development of new tools and approaches for prediction, diagnosis, monitoring, and prognosis of the three disorders and their combination.

Keywords: aging; osteoarthritis; sarcopenia; tendinopathies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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