The Top 100 Most-Cited Publications in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation: A Bibliometric Analysis.

Background: Musculoskeletal conditions are the leading contributor to global healthcare expenditure and with an increase in ageing global population, this number is projected to rise further.
Objectives: To determine the top 100 most-cited studies in field of musculoskeletal rehabilitation and to conduct their bibliometric analysis. Design: Scopus was used for identification of studies, published in the field of musculoskeletal rehabilitation over last five decades.
Methods: Literature search was conducted in February 2021 with final Boolean search phrases being: [(musculoskeletal) and (rehabilitation) and (musculoskeletal rehabilitation)]. In addition to number of citations, data was also collected for other variables such as title of study, topic of discussion, subdivisions of clinical and applied science involved in conduction of study, study design, journal and its impact factor, year of publication, and country where study was conducted.
Results: The top 100 most-cited articles in musculoskeletal rehabilitation over the last 50 years were published between 1973 and 2015. Total number of citations was 24,366, with an average of 243.66 citations per paper. Highest citation was reported by a paper on treatment of low back pain by Waddell G. The decade of 2000-2009 contributed maximum articles with highest number of publications from journal "Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation". Most of the publications were from United States and most common topic to feature among these articles was "Strength training". Conclusions: This study identifies the top 100 most-cited articles in musculoskeletal rehabilitation and provides insight into its historical trends while serving as a guide for future research. © Indian Orthopaedics Association 2022.