Joint Loading & Musculoskeletal Analysis

Bone fractures, ligament and tendon ruptures, and muscle lesions occur frequently and in varying degrees of severity. The regeneration of these tissue structures represents a normal physiological process. However, in some cases conservative or surgical intervention is needed. The recovery of function and structural integrity in musculoskeletal tissues after traumatic injuries can be enhanced by pharmacological, cell-therapeutic, and/or mechano-biological means. The goal is to create an advantageous effect on cell proliferation and differentiation for rapidly adapting, functionally effective tissue systems. The impact of such support measures are quantitatively recorded and evaluated by imaging techniques, functional analyses, and computational methods. An improvement of regeneration by cell therapy for muscle trauma or mechano-biological fixation for bone healing has been detected, for instance studies show beneficial results for adapted plate working length to the specific fracture type and geometry. Through detailed knowledge of mechano-biological interactions of various tissue systems, regeneration post trauma could be further improved and also be facilitated for critical injuries or for patients with reduced biological regenerative capacity. In addition to determining cell biological parameters, the quantitative detection of loading and movement of the musculo-skeletal tissue structures is needed to assess the mechano-biologic interactions of cells and their environment in the process of regeneration (Bone Healing and Cell Biology Team JWI).