New approaches to understanding the impact of musculoskeletal conditions
1ICF Research Branch of the WHO CC FIC (DIMDI), IMBK-Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
Abstract:
The approval of the new international classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF; formerly ICIDH) (WHO, 2001a) by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May 2001 is a landmark event for medicine and society. With the ICF, patients' functioning, with its components body functions and structures, activities and participation, became a central perspective in medicine. The objective of this paper is to outline how the ICF can serve as a new global language of functioning and health and hence become a new approach for our understanding of the impact of musculoskeletal conditions.
