The Musculoskeletal Crisis: Costly, Complex, and Persistent
Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions account for nearly $1 in every $6 spent on healthcare in the United States. Beyond the staggering costs, these conditions profoundly impact people’s daily lives, limiting mobility, productivity, and overall well-being.
Despite significant investment in digital therapy apps, traditional physical therapy, and other conventional treatments, current approaches have failed to bend the cost curve or substantially improve outcomes. As a result, 50% of knee osteoarthritis patients and around 5% of chronic back pain sufferers still eventually undergo major surgery—at enormous financial and personal cost.
Employers, payors, and healthcare providers need a fresh approach—one that disrupts the traditional care pathway by emphasizing early intervention, precision patient identification, and sustainable, cost-effective treatments.
Why Precision Medicine Represents a Critical Shift
Precision medicine isn’t just a trendy buzzword—it’s a well-established healthcare approach that emphasizes personalized, preventive, predictive, and participatory care, often known as the 4Ps of modern medicine.
These principles can—and should—be applied to MSK care. Instead of repeatedly offering generic treatments, precision medicine targets each individual’s unique underlying conditions, such as biomechanics, anatomy, and specific health history.
This targeted approach can finally break the cycle of short-term relief, delivering lasting improvements in patient outcomes, significantly reducing healthcare costs, and improving overall quality of life.
Aligning MSK Care with the Triple Aim
Precision medicine aligns seamlessly with healthcare’s Triple Aim:
- Better Health Outcomes: Employees experience tangible improvements in mobility, reduced pain, and enhanced quality of life.
- Lower Costs: Payors and employers see sustainable reductions in healthcare expenses and fewer costly surgeries and treatments.
- Improved Patient Experience: Patients engage positively with treatments, achieving higher satisfaction, compliance, and reduced absenteeism.
Apos®: A Promising Example of Precision MSK Care
Recently, I’ve explored solutions that exemplify the potential of precision medicine, and Apos® stood out. By considering each patient’s unique anatomy, biomechanics, neuromuscular responses, and medical history, Apos® delivers personalized precision medicine treatment tailored to individual needs, which includes a footworn medical device and a treatment program.
Over 70 clinical studies and real-world outcomes caught my attention:
- Patients saw meaningful, lasting improvements in pain levels and mobility.
- Healthcare utilization costs related to MSK conditions dropped significantly, by 43%.
- A notable reduction in medication use, including opioids, occurred.
- Elective surgeries decreased dramatically, highlighting its preventive potential.
From my perspective as a benefits professional, solutions like Apos® are compelling because they deliver what we’ve long sought: real outcomes, ease of use for patients, and straightforward integration into existing programs.
Simple Integration is Key
Complex solutions rarely succeed in real-world implementation. Benefits professionals know that simplicity drives success—both in adoption and outcomes. Even the most promising clinical solution can fall short if patients don’t stick with it.
That’s why Apos® stood out to me. It’s used at home, during normal daily activities—no need to miss work or attend clinic visits. Even walking around while having morning coffee counts as treatment time. That level of convenience translates into high engagement, and the real-world data backs it up—with a 96% satisfaction rate.
Embrace Innovation—Don’t Fall Behind
Holding onto traditional MSK treatments isn’t just uninspired—it’s financially unsustainable. Payors and professionals must proactively explore innovative, evidence-based solutions to lead effectively in today’s benefits landscape. Precision medicine solutions that are also easy to integrate and to use, such as Apos®, represent exactly the type of advancement worth your attention.
Precision medicine deserves serious consideration in your MSK benefits strategy if you care deeply about innovation, financial health, and employees’ well-being.
Learn more about how Apos can help your benefits strategy:
https://www.aposhealth.com/benefit-leaders-and-health-plans
References:
- https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/musculoskeletal-disease-causes-most-disability-healthcare-spending-in-u-s-but-gets-less-than-2-of-nih-research-funds
- Benn R, Rawson L, Phillips A. Utilising a non-surgical intervention in the knee osteoarthritis care pathway: a 6-year retrospective audit on NHS patients. Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease. 2023;15.
- J Health Econ Outcomes Res. 2024 May 16;11(1):134-140. doi: 10.36469/001c.117155. eCollection 2024.
- Reichenbach et al., JAMA (2020): 70% pain reduction with Apos® vs. 35% in controls
Clinical Outcomes of a New Foot-Worn Non-Invasive Biomechanical Intervention Compared to Traditional Physical Therapy in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain. A Randomized Clinical Trial, https://doi.org/10.1177/21925682251314823
