Lack of Curricular Responsiveness to Regional Musculoskeletal Disease Burden in U.S. Medical Education.

INTRODUCTION

Musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders are among the leading causes of disability worldwide and account for a substantial proportion of U.S. healthcare visits. Despite this burden, undergraduate medical education devotes limited time to MSK instruction. This study evaluates whether medical school priorities or regional MSK disease burden influence MSK curriculum duration.

METHODS

Publicly available data from 157 U.S. allopathic medical schools were reviewed; 78 schools with identifiable MSK curriculum duration were included. Schools were categorized by primary care emphasis and geographic region using Association of American Medical Colleges classifications. Regional MSK disease burden was obtained from the Burden of Musculoskeletal Diseases in the United States (BMUS) database. Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, chi-squared testing, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used.

RESULTS

Among the 78 U.S. allopathic medical schools with available curriculum data, the mean MSK curriculum duration was 5.97 weeks (SD 2.72; median 6; range 2-14). Thirty-nine schools (50%) emphasized primary care. MSK curriculum duration did not differ between schools with and without a primary care emphasis (5.79 vs. 6.15 weeks, p = 0.561). No significant differences were observed across geographic regions using either the 4-region (p = 0.500) or 9-division (p = 0.920) classifications. Despite substantial regional variation in MSK disease burden, MSK curriculum duration remained relatively uniform.

CONCLUSION

MSK curriculum duration was similar across medical schools, averaging around 6 weeks, regardless of institutional mission or regional disease burden. This suggests that curriculum duration does not vary according to these institutional characteristics and may help inform future discussions regarding undergraduate musculoskeletal curriculum design.