DipMSK · Core Tools

DipMSK Core Tools

Interactive revision tools for the Diploma in Musculoskeletal Medicine. Tools that rehearse the decisions the paper actually asks you to make: which image, how fast, how a loaded tendon behaves, and what your hands are doing.

The tools

Each is built from the eighteen FSEM subject areas rather than around them, and each stands on its own. Start wherever the next sitting worries you most.

Core Tools · Members

The Imaging Decider

Right test, first time. The decision rules worth knowing verbatim, 106 imaging cautions — mostly places where a scan is the wrong answer, some where it is the wrong scan or the wrong route — and the imaging line for all ninety presentations.

  • 90 presentations
  • 106 imaging cautions
Open the decider →
Core Tools · Free to everyone

The Achilles Reasoner

One idea — load against capacity — and the subject’s best-evidenced tendon reasoned from it. Ten patient questions, predict-then-reveal on the published trials, then a real twelve-week programme one decision at a time.

  • 10 questions
  • 4 trials, predict first
  • 8 decisions
Open the reasoner →
Core Tools · Members

How Fast? Referral timing drill

Referral decisions drawn from all eighteen subject areas. Same-day, suspected cancer pathway, urgent or routine? The half of referral the syllabus asks for and revision skips.

  • 18 subject areas
Start the drill →
Core Tools · Free to everyone

The Shoulder Sorter

Frozen shoulder, subacromial pain, glenohumeral osteoarthritis and instability — sorted by what passive external rotation is doing, then drilled case by case. Covers FSEM syllabus subjects 1 to 4.

  • Subjects 1–4
  • 4 shoulder presentations
  • 8 drill cases
Open the trainer →
Core Tools

The DipMSK Exam Trainer

Three tools in one: a region-by-region examination routine with the usual traps, a decoder for the special tests a question stem is likely to describe, and a red-flag triage drill that asks how fast to act.

  • Examination routine
  • Special test decoder
  • Red-flag triage
Open the trainer →

Where these sit

Core Tools is where you rehearse a decision until it is automatic. When you want to test it under exam conditions the question bank is next door, and Core Compass keeps track of what is still shaky.

Go to the DipMSK Question Bank → Open Core Compass →

Also live

A companion page for syllabus subject 15.

  • The Tendon Companion

    The seven non-Achilles tendon sites named in syllabus subject 15 — presentation, which image and when, community management including analgesia, and where the referral boundary sits.

The rest of the DipMSK toolkit

Every part of the DipMSK track, one click away. Work across them rather than through them — the guide explains it, the tools drill the decision, the bank tests it and the Compass tells you what is left.

The DipMSK overviewWhere the whole track starts — what the diploma is and how it is assessed.The DipMSK Question Bank1,000 single-best-answer questions across all eighteen FSEM subjects, at exam pace.The Core 10Ten focused minutes of DipMSK questions a day, weighted to this week of your plan and your shakiest topics.Core CurriculumThe eighteen FSEM subject areas, rated as you go.Core LensHow the DipMSK actually asks it — the safety cue, the guideline point and the exam trap across all eighteen areas.Core CompassRate the eighteen subjects, see your readiness by subject, then build a session from your weakest.Core CalendarA plan anchored to your exam date, counting back from the paper.The Revision GuideEighteen chapters, from the frozen shoulder to paediatric MSK.Core WisdomTwelve pieces: what the exam asks, the clinical patterns it tests, and how to read and pace the paper.Core ResourcesThe official FSEM pages, the reading list and the guidance the examiners draw on.DipMSK on videoTen short videos — what the exam is, how to revise for it and the reasoning it tests.

Revision aid, not clinical advice. This page is educational material written for exam preparation. It is not a substitute for the current guideline or for clinical judgement, and must not be relied on for the care of any individual. Always check up-to-date national guidance and verify independently before acting on anything here.

Take this further

This tool is free. If you are preparing for the DipMSK, the full course puts the same reasoning into exam-style questions: a question bank with Core Lens and Deep Dive explanations, a Core Calendar revision plan built around your exam date, and Core Compass to show you which topics need you next.