EFFECTS OF SPACEFLIGHT ON THE MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEM - NIH AND NASA FUTURE-DIRECTIONS

''The Effects of Space Travel on the Musculoskeletal System,'' a workshop held at the National Institutes of Health on October 3 and 4, 1990, was sponsored jointly by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Attended by 80 invitees, it was chaired by Michael F. Holick, Boston University School of Medicine, and Kenneth M. Baldwin, University of California at Irvine. Participants reviewed the normal function and structure of bone and muscle, as well as independent and interactive responses of these tissues to activity and disuse on Earth and in the microgravity environment of space. They then focused on those future directions of research, summarized in this report, that are relevant to the missions and interests of both agencies. A comprehensive review of the presentations is available from NIAMS.2