It was recently demonstrated that those individuals who experience consistently good musculoskeletal health likewise demonstrate remarkably good mental health. The question remains, are these people feeling good because they are in good physical shape, or are they in good physical shape because they feel good?

In an article published in a recent issue of the Journal of Rheumatology, the authors described a 4-year longitudinal study of a group of patients recruited from the practices of general medicine doctors in England. Study subjects answered questions about musculoskeletal pain and a variety of psychosocial factors at time points 15 months and 4 years.

And of course, patients reporting the least amount of musculoskeletal pain/discomfort had the lowest psychological distress, depression, and anxiety scores. These patients generally did not suffer illness, they slept well, had few somatic complaints, and had not suffered any significant trauma in the 6 months prior to being questioned.