Linking Joint Mechanics and Tissue Mechanics with MRI

骨关节炎(OA)是一种衰弱的肌肉骨骼疾病，每10个加拿大人中就有一个受到影响，目前还没有已知的治疗方法。令人望而生畏的是，到2031年，加拿大的办公自动化成本预计将翻两番。我们知道，膝关节负荷过重会使个人面临患上骨性关节炎的风险。例如，超重或有膝部或弓形腿的人患骨性关节炎的风险更高。这被认为是因为膝盖所受的力增加或不正常。我们还知道，传递这些力量的重要组织，如软骨和半月板，会随着骨性关节炎而分解，因此它们不能再发挥这一重要作用。为了减缓或阻止疾病的发展，我们可能需要纠正力量是如何传递的，但为了做到这一点，我们必须首先了解关节超载和组织超载之间的关系。在这个项目中，我们的目标是开发必要的工具来了解整个关节和组织水平过载之间的关系。我们建议通过使用磁共振成像(MRI)和生物力学实验室工具来实现这一点，磁共振成像非常擅长产生关于组织健康的信息，生物力学实验室工具可以为我们提供非常准确的关节力学测量。然后，我们将拥有一个可以被操纵来理解基本重载关系的工具。这最终将提高我们对骨性关节炎的理解，并最终允许医生开发和测试这种衰弱和流行的疾病的治疗方法。由于OA涉及到如此多的加拿大人，而且它的负担在未来几年将大大增加，我们需要在获得治愈这种疾病所需的知识方面发挥带头作用。

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.