HSS is the world’s leading academic medical center for musculoskeletal health. Its core institution, Hospital for Special Surgery, ranks No. 1 in orthopedics and No. 3 in rheumatology nationally.
A lifestyle medicine approach to pain and musculoskeletal health
In association with 
“When your knee is swollen, and you can’t bend down and pick up your grandchild, that may be the day you’re really ready to go into an active state of behavioral change.”
— Dr. Heidi Prather, attending physician, founder and medical director, HSS Lifestyle Medicine Program
How addressing pain can open the door to lifestyle medicine
In A Lifestyle Medicine Approach to Pain, Hospital for Special Surgery explores how chronic musculoskeletal pain can become a pivotal moment for change. The short-form documentary follows patients and clinicians within HSS’s lifestyle medicine program, showing how pain, loss of function, and disrupted sleep often increase readiness to engage in therapeutic lifestyle interventions.
The film highlights how musculoskeletal conditions, such as osteoarthritis, are closely linked with metabolic health, including type 2 diabetes. By helping patients understand how pain, inflammation, daily behaviors, and chronic disease intersect, clinicians are able to support whole-person care that goes beyond symptom management. This integrated approach allows patients to address multiple conditions simultaneously, improving both function and overall health.
Through group sessions, education, breathing practices, physical activity, and connectedness, the documentary illustrates how lifestyle medicine can enhance patients’ ability to participate in their own care. Patients describe improvements across sleep, nutrition, movement, and quality of life — demonstrating how addressing pain through a lifestyle medicine lens can support sustainable health and long-term well-being.
