Engineer's hands-on research aimed at building better joint implants
BY ANDREW VOWLES
Hip and knee replacements — or, more precisely, the waiting lines for these operations — get all the headlines. But Prof. Karen Gordon, Engineering, is interested in a still-young research field using biomaterials to construct a little considered but vital body joint: the wrist.
The biomedical engineer arrived at Guelph this summer to continue her graduate and post-grad studies of the hand and upper limb. Gordon plans to combine her interests in biomaterials and the human body to develop better prosthetics and orthopedic procedures for what she calls the “upper extremity.”
Her U of G studies follow on graduate research conducted at the University of Western Ontario with Dr. Graham King, whom she describes as perhaps the best orthopedic surgeon in his field in Canada.
She studied muscle loading and wrist movement in the bioengineering research laboratory at the Hand and Upper Limb Centre at St. Joseph's Health Care in London. Acknowledging that research into wrist prostheses lags some two to three decades behind that for hip and knee joints, she says she expects interest in upper limb implants to grow.
People typically require the devices to relieve pain, instability and stiffness caused by osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, which are among the most common disorders affecting the joint.
Only two makes of distal ulnar implants are currently available to patients, says Gordon. Opening what look like instrument cases on a shelf in her Thornbrough Building office, she compares hip and wrist implants. Like the hip prosthesis, the smaller, stubbier wrist joint implant consists of a modular titanium stem and cobalt chrome head.
She studies the devices by using a joint simulator and electromagnetic tracking device that allows her to record computer-controlled motion pathways. Learning more about the workings of the wrist, or distal radioulnar joint, may help in understanding the causes and progression of degenerative joint disorders.
Her studies may also help ensure a better fit of implant materials, including so-called biomaterials, to bone, muscle and other tissues.
During a post-doctoral stint at the University of Calgary, Gordon worked with Janet Ronsky, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Engineering. Gordon studied how osteoarthritis develops in the knee joint, using techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging to take pictures of the joint and diagnose problems.
Here at Guelph, she's forging research links with other faculty in her own school — principally Prof. Bob Dony — and across campus. She expects to work with Prof. Mark Hurtig, a large-animal surgeon in the Department of Clinical Studies, and his colleague, radiology professor Howard Dobson.
“We want to take animal joints and develop MRI techniques to measure strain in soft tissues,” she says, explaining the use of this non-invasive technique for comparing normal and arthritic joints.
She also expects to collaborate with Prof. Jim Dickey, Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences, who has recently acquired two robots for further studies on orthopedic biomechanics.
In the process, she's reacquainting herself with her alma mater. Gordon studied biological engineering here before pursuing graduate studies. She now teaches courses on biomaterials and bioengineering systems to students in that same program.
She had planned to apply to medical school when she began her graduate degree, but then decided the doctor lifestyle wasn't for her. She was the first PhD graduate of the biomedical engineering program at Western.
After hours, Gordon runs and swims — pursuits that have been mostly injury-free so far. “But I definitely sleep better at night knowing that, when a problem does arise, I will be better equipped to deal with it,” she says.
