The ORS Skeletal Muscle Section was launched in August 2025 by the organizers of multiple skeletal muscle focused RIGs, symposia, and the ORS. Skeletal muscle is an essential component of the musculoskeletal system. This section will promote interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation, education, and translation in the ORS membership and skeletal muscle research community; fostering an interactive forum for professional engagement and development. Our vision is to be a premier research community that produces cutting edge research and enables future technologies, innovations, and therapies that produce a better quality of life for patients. Our overarching goal is to disseminate research in skeletal muscle development, aging, trauma, disuse, and diseases that improve our understanding in basic skeletal muscle biology and develop therapeutic targets that bolster function. Our specific objectives seek to address development, aging, disease, and trauma. In these critical areas, our section members investigate cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in muscle regeneration, physiology, neurotransmission, multi-tissue crosstalk, rehabilitation, and the development of therapeutics.
Background and Importance to Orthopaedic Research
Skeletal muscle is a complex organ that is responsible for performing motor function and movement, and plays a key role in metabolism. Comprising 40% of the body’s total mass, skeletal muscle is one of the most vulnerable tissues to aging, disease, and injuries. Skeletal muscle disorders and injuries are not just medical issues, but they also pose a significant societal challenge. They contribute to disability, chronic pain, escalating healthcare costs, and diminished productivity. These conditions are particularly concerning within the context of orthopedic research, given their profound impact on patient outcomes and quality of life. While skeletal muscle exhibits a remarkable capacity for regeneration after mild injuries, its ability to recover fully from trauma or chronic conditions such as aging-related degeneration, muscular dystrophies, and other myopathies remains markedly limited and often incomplete.
Despite the prevalence of muscle-related conditions and the critical need for therapeutic interventions, advancements in the field have lagged. This can be attributed to gaps in the fundamental understanding of skeletal muscle biology. Given skeletal muscle’s central role in mobility, strength, and overall musculoskeletal function, orthopedic research must prioritize uncovering these biological mechanisms and developing novel treatment strategies. Addressing physiological knowledge gaps has the potential to revolutionize approaches to skeletal muscle repair, rehabilitation, and regeneration. This could fill a significant void in orthopedic care, offering hope for improved patient outcomes and quality of life.
The most important research topics/questions:
- Investigating cellular and molecular mechanisms of muscle aging, disease, and injuries to identify potential targets for intervention
- Understanding tissue crosstalk and exploring the complex interactions between muscle-bone, muscle-nerve, and muscle-tendon
- Developing regenerative therapies for enhancing muscle repair and function in aged, dystrophic, or injured skeletal muscle
- Examining the effects of different types of exercise on improving muscle mass and strength
- Combining regenerative and rehabilitative treatment strategies for improving skeletal muscle recovery
- Investigating fundamental biology of skeletal muscle development
- Translate basic science into therapeutics to improve orthopedic care of skeletal muscle disorders or injuries
- Muscle dysfunction in acute and chronic orthopaedics conditions (such as PTOA, rotator cuff injury)
