Core Revision
Core Curriculum · DipMSK
The DipMSK Core Curriculum
A calm, high-yield map of the Diploma in Musculoskeletal Medicine — what the paper is built from, what actually matters in each of the eighteen subject areas, the traps to avoid, and a simple way to track your confidence as you revise.
The paper
FSEM examinationOne paper of 180 single best answer questions in 180 minutes — a minute a question, with a comfort break at the halfway point. It is sat online on a single date: the FSEM exam page says every candidate sits at the same time, while its Regulations describe a staggered start, usually between 9:30 and 10:00 UK time. The pass mark is pre-set by standard setting rather than fixed at a percentage, so there is no target score to aim at — only the syllabus to cover.
The Faculty publishes no per-subject weighting, so no subject can safely be treated as optional. That is the case for working through all eighteen.
For the 2027 sitting, applications open 11 January 2027 and close 1 April 2027. Put both dates in your Core Calendar alongside the sitting itself.
Sitting date, format, break and fee checked against the FSEM website on 27 September 2026. The Faculty notes the fee is subject to its annual price review — confirm the current cost before you apply.
Every topic in the curriculum
The first topic is open as a preview. The detail for the other 23 is for members.
The eighteen subject areas
What to focus on
- Recognise the pattern: insidious shoulder pain followed by progressive global stiffness, with loss of passive external rotation the single most useful sign.
- Compare active and passive range in every stiff shoulder — restriction in both directions points to the capsule or the joint, not the cuff.
- Know the natural history in three overlapping phases (painful, stiff, recovering) and that resolution is usually measured in months to a couple of years, which shapes what you promise the patient.
- Manage conservatively first: analgesia, reassurance about the long but favourable course, and physiotherapy pitched to the phase; an intra-articular or glenohumeral corticosteroid injection can ease pain in the painful phase and let rehabilitation start.
- Ask about diabetes and thyroid disease, which are associated with frozen shoulder and with a more protracted course.
You don’t need
Capsular-release or hydrodilatation technique — recognise the pattern, set realistic expectations, and know when the shoulder is stiff enough for onward referral.
Also in this topic, for members
How every subject is examined
MSK history & examinationMembersImaging & investigationsMembersInjection therapy & proceduresMembersMSK pharmacology & analgesiaMembersRed flags & serious pathologyMembersRehabilitation & exercise medicineMembersThe rest of the DipMSK Curriculum is in the DipMSK package
For the other 23 topics: what to focus on, the hidden pitfalls, the exam triggers and when to revisit — written and reviewed by practising UK doctors.
- DipMSK question bank
- Pay once, no subscription
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.