LAUSR

Abstract Introduction This paper provides significant information about traditional knowledge of medicinal plants to treat musculoskeletal disorders in Northern Pakistan. The study aimed to document data regarding traditional uses of plants in health-care practices among the rural communities of areas which may lead to natural drug discovery development. Methods In total, 215 informants were interviewed using semi structured questionnaire. Documented ethnomedicinal data is analyzed using quantitative index of frequency citation (FC), relative frequency of citation (RFC), disease-consensus index (DCI), used value (UV), fidelity level (FL), jaccard index (JI), family important value (FIV), Relative popularity levely (RPL) and Rank priority order (ROP) and ethno-medicinal findings were compared with 25 previous published studies to report novel uses of plants against musculoskeletal disorder. Results A total of 142 plants belonging to 69 families were reported with their medicinal usage to treat musculoskeletal disorders. The most dominant were herbs (57%), decoction was preferred method of utilization (35.2%) and leaves were the most used plant part (44.3%). The highest used category was recorded for rheumatism (44%) and the most used species were Celastrus paniculatus and Cyperus rotundus. RFC ranged from 0.098 to 0.586, Triticum aestivium with highest DCI (0.68) and Salvadoraceae was dominant family in terms of FIV (58.60). Conclusion This study provides significant information about medicinal plants usage for musculoskeletal disorders among indigenous communities of Northern Pakistan. The baseline findings of this study might be useful in compiling data for future phytochemical and pharmacological screening of plants leading to natural drug discovery and development.