Linking Joint Mechanics and Tissue Mechanics with MRI

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Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating musculoskeletal disease that affects 1 in 10 Canadians and currently there is no known cure. Dauntingly, the cost of OA is projected to quadruple in Canada by 2031. We know that overloading the knee joint puts individuals at risk for developing OA. For example, individuals who are overweight or who have knock-knees or bow-legs have a higher risk of developing OA. This is thought to be because of the increased or abnormal force that the knee experiences. We also know that the tissues that are important for transmitting these forces, such as cartilage and meniscus, break down with OA and so they can no longer carry out this important role. It is likely that we need to correct how the forces are being transmitted in order to slow or stop the progression of the disease but in order to do this we must first understand the relationship between overloading the joint and overloading the tissue. In this program we aim to develop the tools necessary to understand the relationship between whole joint and tissue level overloading. We propose to do this by using both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is very good at generating information about tissue health, and biomechanical laboratory tools, which can provide us with very accurate measures of joint mechanics. We will then have a tool that can be manipulated to understand fundamental overloading relationships. This will ultimately improve our understanding of OA and, eventually, allow doctors to develop and test treatments for this debilitating and prevalent disease. Because OA touches so many Canadians and its burden will increase so greatly in coming years, we need to be the leaders in obtaining the knowledge necessary to cure this disease.