• Some estimates state that more than 90 percent of Canadians will require orthopaedic treatment in their lifetime.
• The musculoskeletal system is a complex system that includes all of the muscles, bones, joints and related structures that function in the movement of the body.
• The human skeleton contains 206 bones.

Building and Maintaining Bone and Joint Health

• Good bone and joint health is fundamental to quality of life and independent living.
• Canada’s physical activity guidelines say that children need to be moderately or vigorously active for at least 90 minutes daily for healthy growth and development.
• Eat smart by following a healthy, balanced diet to maintain a healthy weight.
• Make a lifelong commitment to being active to build and maintain strong, healthy bones.
• Play safe and stay in the game!  Consider safety risks, wear or use adequate and appropriate safety equipment, learn the skills for your activity.

Musculoskeletal Injuries and Disorders

• Musculoskeletal system disorders are more common than any other long-term health problem.
• Over 20 percent of Canadians report having musculoskeletal health problems – arthritis, rheumatism, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, trauma injury or disease.
• Musculoskeletal conditions, including all bone and joint problems, cost the economy an estimated $17-billion a year in health resources and lost productivity.
• Musculoskeletal conditions are the leading cause of disability, accounting for approximately $12.5-billion, almost 40 percent of long-term disability costs.
• Orthopaedic injuries were the most common type of injury sustained by pedestrians, accounting for 65 percent of all injuries, followed by internal organ injuries (24 percent) and head injuries (18 percent).
• Knee injuries are among the most common form of soccer injury.  And, a single knee injury as a teenager or young adult can triple the risk of osteoarthritis in that knee by middle age.
• Knee injury prevention alone could reduce osteoarthritis of the knee, and its future disabling pain, by at least 20 percent.
• Joint replacements have increased 30 percent in the five years up to 2002-03.
• The average hospital inpatient cost of a knee replacement is $8,002.
• Over one-third of those aged 65 years or more fall annually, resulting in over 20,000 hip fractures in Canada.
• Hip dysplasia occurs 4 times in every 1,000 live-births and is more common among girls and firstborns.
• Approximately 9,000 children under 16 require treatment in emergency rooms each year for hockey-related injuries such as bone fractures and concussion.
• Waits for a knee replacement average seven months.  Some 10 percent of knee replacement patients waited 21 months or more.
• Waits for a hip replacement average 4.5 months.  Some 10 percent of hip replacement patients waited 15 months or more.
• One out of 1,000 children, an estimated 100,000 worldwide, is born with a clubfoot each year.
• Demand for new hips and knees will double within the next 10 or 15 years.
• Hospital care expenditures accounted for more than one-half of the direct costs of musculoskeletal disease ($1.4 billion) in 1998, and drug and physician care expenditures were estimated to be 23 percent ($614.3 million) and 22 percent ($578.2 million) of direct costs respectively.
• Long term disability ($12.6 billion) represented over 90 percent of indirect costs.
• In 2003-2004, there were 194,771 acute care hospitalizations due to injury, accounting for 1,918,860 days in hospital with the average stay at 10 days.
• Unintentional falls accounts for more injury-related hospitalizations, 57 percent, than all others combined.
• According to the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI), the Canadian Orthopaedic Association’s National Standards Committee reported that an additional 440 orthopaedic surgeons are required immediately in Canada in order to meet the current requirement.  Projections show that the number of orthopaedic surgeons per population will shrink over the next ten years.