About the Authors

Hiroyuki Oka

okah-tky@umin.ac.jp

Affiliation Department of Medical Research and Management for Musculoskeletal Pain, 22nd Century Medical & Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Ko Matsudaira

Affiliation Department of Medical Research and Management for Musculoskeletal Pain, 22nd Century Medical & Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Tomoko Fujii

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Japan Labour, Health and Welfare Organization, Kanto Rosai Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan

Hiroshi Okazaki

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Japan Labour, Health and Welfare Organization, Kanto Rosai Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan

Yukari Shinkai

Affiliation Medical Research Center, JA Kyosai Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan

Yutaka Tsuji

Affiliation Medical Research Center, JA Kyosai Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan

Sakae Tanaka

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Ryuichi Kato

Affiliation Medical Research Center, JA Kyosai Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan

Competing Interests

Co-authors YS, YT and RK are employed by JA Kyosai Research Institute. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: H. Oka KM ST. Performed the experiments: TF H. Okazaki. Analyzed the data: H. Oka KM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: YS YT RK. Wrote the paper: H. Oka KM.