70% of older adults reported currently experiencing joint pain. Women were more likely than men to report joint pain (75% vs. 65%), as were those aged 65–80 compared to those aged 50–64 (74% vs. 68%). (source)

Chronic muscle pain affects between 11–24% of the world’s population with the majority of people experiencing musculoskeletal pain at some time in their life. (source)

Older, sedentary, unemployed, and less educated individuals with anxiety are more likely to suffer from chronic muscle pain. (source)

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 1.71 billion people worldwide have musculoskeletal conditions

Low back pain is the main contributor to the overall burden of musculoskeletal conditions (570 million prevalent cases worldwide). (source)

After low back pain, Arthritis, Neck pain, Tendinitis and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome are the next most common conditions. Although this varies by age and gender.

The prevalence of plantar fasciitis is estimated to be around 10% of the general population. A major cause of this is due to unsupportive footwear becoming more and more popular. (source)

The Musculoskeletal Diseases Market Size is estimated to reach $7.9 billion by 2027 and is poised to grow at a CAGR of 6.9% over the forecast period of 2022-2027. (source)

Musculoskeletal care is a big problem for the U.S. healthcare system, with low back and neck pain leading 154 conditions in healthcare spending in 2016, costing an estimated $134.5 billion. (source)

Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions cost the U.S. healthcare system $420 billion in 2018—more than any other chronic condition. (source)

Loop Earplugs are estimated to be worth between $4-7m and approximately 1.8m monthly visits on their website according to SimilarWeb. They sell earplugs mostly aimed at concert-goers or people often in loud environments. Aimed at reducing Tinnitus.

Groove Pillows aims to help solve neck pain caused by poorly shaped and supported pillows. According to SimilarWeb they get 145k visits every month. There are a lot of similar companies out there in this niche.

Products like this neck cracker have popped up all over the place (mostly thanks to dropshippers). There are similar ones for your back and also knee sleeves like this.

Low Back Pain: Especially given the sedentary nature of many jobs, low back pain is prevalent and has been on the rise.

Text Neck: With the increased use of smartphones and tablets, there's a rise in neck pain resulting from looking down at devices for extended periods.

Computer Vision Syndrome: Prolonged screen time can result in eye strain, dry eyes, headaches, and other related issues.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: This condition can be related to repetitive motions such as typing, and with the continued rise of computer-centric jobs, there's potential for growth.

Plantar Fasciitis: A common cause of heel pain, often due to overuse or unsupportive footwear.

TMJ Disorders: Issues with the temporomandibular joint can cause jaw pain, and there seems to be an uptick in reported cases, possibly related to stress and associated behaviours like teeth grinding.

Chronic Insomnia: The stresses of modern life, along with screen exposure late into the evening, have contributed to a rise in sleep disturbances.

Tinnitus: Often characterized by ringing in the ears, there's been a noted rise, potentially tied to increased exposure to loud noises through personal audio devices.

Osteoarthritis: With an ageing population and a higher prevalence of overweight individuals, osteoarthritis, especially in the knees, has been on the rise.

Tendonitis: Repetitive use or strain can cause inflammation in various tendons around the body, and some forms seem to be on the rise, particularly with increased engagement in specific sports or activities.

Frozen Shoulder: Stiffness and pain in the shoulder joint, which can limit its range of motion.

Shin Splints: Pain along the shin bone, often seen in runners and military recruits.

Eye irritation (Dry eyes, itchy eyes, red eyes)

Blurred vision

Headaches

Backaches

Neck aches

Muscle fatigue

Conduct research - Talk to medical professionals, people suffering from the pain you’re solving or solve a pain you’ve personally experienced. Make sure your product is as good as it can be at solving the problems it claims to solve.

Read reviews for existing products - What can you improve or do differently based on the common negative reviews and what should you continue doing based on the positive ones?

Create or source the products - Find manufacturers (I’ve put a list in the resources section) to either create or source the products.

Sell multiple products - You want to ensure you average order value is as high as possible, to do this, make sure you sell multiple products that you can bundle together.

Sell as a subscription - If possible, look at selling the products as a subscription to ensure recurring revenue for you but also fresh and effective products for your customers.

Use Shopify - Shopify is hands down the best e-commerce platform, build a DTC website on it.

Get professional product images - Get professional-looking product images, including shots of the products in action.

Amazon - Once you’ve found some success using Shopify make sure you start selling on Amazon too to maximise reach and revenue.

Organic Video Content - Create organic content aimed at your target audience, showing how your products work. Use TikTok, Reels, Shorts & YouTube videos. Also, Pinterest shouldn’t be slept on here.

Paid Ads - Use Google ads to target searches for treatment, relief and ways to avoid the pains your products solve. Use Meta ads to educate potential customers of the problems and how your product is the solution.

Wholesale - Sell your product to other retailers to gain even more reach.

Recommendations - If you’ve worked with medical professionals in the space to create the best product you can for the problem, they may recommend your product to patients suffering from that pain.

Educate - Educate your target market about the problem, ways to avoid it from happening and how to relieve the pain if/when it does happen. Become the go-to source for information on this topic.

Communities - There will likely be Reddit communities and Facebook groups for people looking for help with their pain. Become a trusted member of these groups by providing real, insightful value. Don’t outright plug your product, this 99% of the time backfires.

There are a lot of products on the market that aim to alleviate or avoid muscle & joint pains but that doesn't mean they can’t improve or new ones can’t be created.

Do your research and try to find early customers without spending much money. If you’re talking to people with the pain, see if it’s something they’d pay for first and get them to test it before placing large orders with manufacturers or spending money on ads, websites, etc.

Pietra Studios

Thomasnet

Europages

Alibaba