Progress of orthopaedic research in China over the last decade

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the representative scientific achievements in the past decade, and discuss the future challenges and directions for orthopaedic research in China. METHODS: In this review, we used the data provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for analysis. RESULTS: Over the last decade, NSFC has initiated various research programs with a total funding of over 1149 million RMB to support orthopaedic exploration. Under the strong support of NSFC, great progresses have been made in basic research, talent training, platform construction and the clinical translation in the field of orthopaedics in China. CONCLUSION: In general, since the establishment of the Department of Health Sciences of NSFC 10 years ago, both the amount of funding and the scale of researchers in the field of orthopaedic research have increased substantially. Despite of several shortcomings in orthopaedic research, with continuous support from NSFC both in funding and in policy, we believe that the orthopaedic research in China will surely make steady and significant progress. THE TRANSLATIONAL POTENTIAL OF THIS ARTICLE: This article summarizes the representative scientific achievements in the past decade and puts forward the future challenges and directions for orthopaedic research in China.