[The role of rheumatologists in multidisciplinary expert opinions]

Diseases of the musculoskeletal system are among the foremost reasons for premature health-related loss of employment. In giving expert opinions, physicians need a change of perspective from a therapeutic patient-doctor relationship where the well-being of the patient is important, to the expert consultant setting where the goal is to find an objective truth. Both ways of thinking demand a scientific evidence-based approach. Chronic pain syndromes often revolve around the borderline between soma and psyche. In the perception of modern pain research, a strict distinction between somatically and psychically caused pains is obsolete. In expert assessments of chronic pain a close cooperation between rheumatologist and psychiatrist is mandatory. This article focuses on the role of the rheumatologist in multidisciplinary expert assessment and also highlights some peculiarities of Swiss jurisdiction.