Dear colleagues,

Within the last two decades we have witnessed a tremendous development of medicine, mostly due to development of new technologies and pharmaceutical industry. This has left us facing new challenges, such as the need for changing the clinical practice by introducing new guidelines and programs in medical education. It is not always an easy task, because sometimes that is beyond the knowledge we have acquired during professional trainings and it demands certain changes within the routine practice.

One of the fields, in which we need to significantly change our clinical practice, is skeletal pathology.

It is a well-known fact that chronic skeleton diseases, such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, present one of the most common medical problems and a big public health issue. Complications associated with these diseases, cause disabilities and significant deterioration of the quality of life while also presenting a large financial burden, not only for the patients and their families, but for the whole society as well.

It is also well known that the prevention of injuries is a big issue for all sports organizations and athletes, particularly prevention of micro-injuries of cartilage which lead to major injuries, significantly reducing the ability of athletes to achieve their maximum result and consequently limiting their careers.

The recent development of technology, as well as intensive scientific activities for the past two decades brought a notable advancement in understanding of skeleton physiology. It indicates the necessity of changing the standard clinical approach towards the principles of personalized and integrative medicine.

However, in order to do that, it is necessary to create a new organizational platform which will speed up the process of implementation of the new knowledge, adjusting the clinical practice in daily life. Medical societies have an important role in that, particularly because the development of science and technology is too rapid to be appropriately followed up with the standard educational programs provided by Universities. This is especially important in the case of the skeleton pathology, which has been neglected for many years.

Skeleton was not even considered as an organ, there was no basic education about the physiology of the skeleton and biological mechanisms that affect the skeleton. The understanding of the skeleton was poor due to the lack of methods able to provide the most important information about skeleton biology. Because of that, the common clinical practice was, and still mostly is, partial and symptomatic treatment.

Orthopedics, physical medicine, rheumatology, and endocrinology only deal with parts of this large and complex organ. The discipline of clinical medicine which would deal with a skeleton as a whole is still missing.

Taking into consideration all that has been mentioned above, I would like to offer You with an invitation to join the International Musculoskeletal Foundation (IMSF). IMSF is a recently established society with the goal of promoting the new concept in the prevention and treatment of skeleton diseases, based on the principles of personalized and integrated medicine, in order to approach the skeleton as a complex organ which functions as a whole.

The IMSF’s main activities are:

• creating the guidelines of the clinical approach, with regular updates upon latest relevant scientific evidence
• education of doctors and other medical professionals through training centers
• providing “online” and “offline” consultation
• promoting the importance of prevention among the population

To be able to accomplish this mission, it is important to include, as members or supporters, as many as possible doctors, scientists, other medical professionals, philanthropists, businessmen and media, pharmaceutical, and other companies to participate and to empower the influence of our society.

So, I would like to invite all potential contributors and those who share this vision, to join the IMSF and contribute to the improvement of the treatment and prevention of skeleton diseases.

Additionally, the participation in this pioneering mission will be the chance to feel the satisfaction brought by the creation of a new value.

If you accept this invitation and are willing to join the IMSF, please fulfill the questioner on our web site and, in return, You will be contacted with the neccessary details about joining the IMSF.

Then you will receive the program and all other information about society.

Prof. Dalibor Krpan, MD, PhD

President of IMSF