Arthritis Research - Joint approach to joint pain
Arthritis Research UK
Biomechanics and Bioengineering Centre at Cardiff
Dr Cathy Holt
Dr Debbie Mason, Dr Gemma Whatling, Dr Valerie Sparkes, Mr Daniel Whatling and Ms Rebecca Hemming
- Cardiff researchers from six academic schools are working together to improve our understanding of osteoarthritis, and to develop better treatments for millions of sufferers.
- Arthritis Research UK recognised Cardiff’s cross disciplinary expertise by setting up its £10m UK Centre of Excellence in Biomechanics and Bioengineering Research here.
Millions of people in the UK have their lives blighted by the painful and degenerative condition, osteoarthritis. Cardiff University researchers are now pooling their expertise to improve our understanding of this and other joint problems and to develop improved treatments.
This expert team was chosen by Arthritis Research UK to form the UK Centre of Excellence in Biomechanics and Bioengineering Research.
The £10 million Centre draws on Cardiff’s cutting-edge expertise from six academic schools across the University. As well as the Cardiff School of Engineering, the Centre involves researchers from the Schools of Biosciences; Pharmacy; Medicine; Dentistry; and Health Care Sciences.
3D Reconstructed Model
The Centre’s research focuses mainly on osteoarthritis, which affects some eight million people in the UK.
Treatment is usually decided by a patient’s self-reported pain, but this does not always correlate with the extent of joint damage. Consequently, there is an urgent clinical requirement for objective measures in early diagnosis of joint problems and assessment of treatment efficacy to reduce pain.
The Centre is also working with partner universities Exeter, Florida, and Queens Belfast, and collaborating with a range of companies and organisations including DePuy, Smith and Nephew, Arthrex, Simpleware, Qualisys and Orthopaedics Research UK .
The exhibit involves a practical demonstration of motion analysis, as used in the Centre’s laboratories: markers attached to a subject’s limbs are registered using infra-red high speed cameras, and then specialized software is used to display the subject’s movement in three dimensions on the screen.