10 ms·
A living replacement knee to be tested in clinical trials within five years
- thebrain 3y agoIncredible stuff. I could use a few new joints myself.
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- teaearlgraycold 3y agoFor people doomed to this fate like myself, please try cycling. My mom has had numerous knee surgeries due to lack of proper exercise and being overweight. My knee issues started at 15, so presumably it’s genetic. When I started cycling regularly at 24 the problems receded almost entirely. I doubt this will completely prevent the need for surgery later in life, but I’m glad I’m doing what I can.
- neilc 3y agoCycling is good. I've also found boswellia and curcumin supplements to be surprisingly effective for the arthritis symptoms.
- NegativeLatency 3y agoSwimming is good too, even more gentle
- kazinator 3y agoDoing nothing is even more gentle; that's not exactly the idea.
- selimthegrim 3y ago“Low-impact”
- kazinator 3y agoThe idea that swimming is better than cycling because it has even less impact is simply invalid. The low impact of cycling is more than low enough.¹ (Outside of falling down and hitting the pavement, of course!) I would say that if all you do is cycling, you should add some more load-bearing exercise, like weights, and a bit of running. You should not be worried that cycling is too high impact and go for swimming for that reason (though there are great reasons to swim, and nobody should be discouraged from that!) ＿＿＿＿ 1. Except for someone with a serious injury that they are treating with pool exercise, or a member of some other special population.
- viciousvoxel 3y agoYou're being obtuse. Parent clearly meant gentle as in "lower impact", which really is the idea. Swimming is a great exercise option for joint health (and in general).
- kazinator 3y agoNope; you need load bearing. And even some mild impact. Lower impact being better than high impact doesn't imply that even lower impact is even better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone#Remodeling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone#Remodeling "Repeated stress, such as weight-bearing exercise or bone healing, results in the bone thickening at the points of maximum stress (Wolff's law). It has been hypothesized that this is a result of bone's piezoelectric properties, which cause bone to generate small electrical potentials under stress." Swimming is beneficial, and is a great complement to load-bearing exercise.
- dredmorbius 3y agoThis is a much better response than your upstream contribution.
- dredmorbius 3y agoSwimming may or may not be appropriate. Swimming, generally, is pretty poor lower-body exercise. Most swimmers have very well-developed upper-body strength, though favouring back and torso generally. Legs get comparatively little workout, though for competitive swimmers starts (diving off the blocks) and turns (kicking off the wall) are periodic explosive strength. Swimming can and does lead to joint problems in many cases, notably shoulders (for most strokes) and knees (breastroke or "frog" kick). The human anatomy isn't really designed for dragging itself through water, and repetitive stress injuries can emerge. The leverage effect of even a small effort exerted at the hand or foot transferred to the elbow/knee or shoulder/hip can be stunningly large. There is the option of "aquasize" or "water walking", which can be useful as rehabilitative exercise or for the morbidly obese. This is water-assisted movement, though, not swimming per se. Mind: so long as you're mindful of limitations, and swimming is both convenient and useful, it's a great exercise and a useful training tool, or goal. But it's possible to hurt yourself in all kinds of ways. A useful rule of thumb is that mild soreness in muscle after exercise is generally OK. Pain in joints or connective tissue is not, and is a strong signal to back off, with total rest for days or weeks often required. (Source: long-time competitive and recreational swimmer, some-time fitness fanatic.)
- zimpenfish 3y ago> knees (breastroke or "frog" kick) Anecdata: My knee consultant specifically banned the breaststroke kick if I go swimming (but then my knee is a disaster area and pending a replacement.)
- dredmorbius 3y agoI know quite a few competitive breaststrokers who developed knee problems in their later teens, so, yeah. Flutter or dolphin kick, with or without fins ("Zoomers" are particularly useful) should be safer, and actually is a reasonably good lower-body workout, particularly in conjunction with strength training (squats & deads notably).
- yolo3000 3y agoFrom what I read cycling is better, at least for cartilage, check out the video of this doctor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PNBjKJ9hxQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PNBjKJ9hxQ. He also talks in other videos about the force you get on the knee from a push motion, versus a kick motion, with the kick motion exerting more force.
- forgotmyinfo 3y agoMy mom is also overweight and having the resultant joint issues because of it now that it's been decades. I feel bad, because it just results in pain, which makes her move less, and it just becomes a vicious cycle. Some things provide temporary relief, like steroid injections, but the core issue is still there. Never stop moving, if you can help it! Mobility is so important.
- stavros 3y agoI was asking a friend about this just yesterday. My left knee is starting to hurt, including while walking. I use the bicycle as my main mode of transportation, and I was wondering if it's good for the knee or bad for it.
- toss1 3y agoThe general assumption is that bicycling is good for it; it has negligible impact, and the motion will keep muscles and tendons flexible and increased blood flow is good for healing. Particularly use lower gears and 'spin' faster, so your pedaling rate is 80-90 RPM (i.e., don't be pushing hard on the pedals at low RPMs). This is both most efficient and keeps joint loads lower. Please note the "assumption". Be sure to ask your doctor about your specific condition, as no one here including me, has any idea what is your actual condition and what the effects would be. Hope your knee gets better soon!
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoA lot of what I do is low RPM high torque climbing. That’s the kind of exercise that builds strength in the gym (fewer reps at higher weight) so I expect it builds my lower body strength better than spinning.
- toss1 3y agoSure, if you're doing that for a particular reason such as you mention, great. Beginner cyclists also tend to pedal with a much slower cadence. But it is definitely not the fast way around the track or down the road. For almost everyone, the 80-90 or 75-95 RPM cadence is most efficient. Slower will exhaust the muscles sooner, and faster (except for sprints) will squander energy on ineffective motion (as in force that doesn't get to the wheel). Also, unless you are doing such low-RPM/Hi-torque levels that you literally fail in 6-20 strokes, you are doing closer to a bodybuilders' bulk-up routine. Going to failure in few sets builds peak strength. Doing more sets doesn't build peak strength, but does build more bulk; the levels of low-rpm pressure and "reps" of pedal strokes done in cycling for tens of minutes are definitely in the high-rep/low weight gym regimes. To really augment your strength, better off doing weight workouts with leg press, knee extension, knee contraction/curls, and squats. It definitely helps cycling performance.
- swader999 3y agoBackward sled pull or just pushing a treadmill in reverse with the power off, ten minutes, 3x a week. Check out knees over toes guy on YouTube. Former world cup mogul skier and treeplanter of a decade with the toll of all that.
- SoftTalker 3y agoAlso, touchdown squats. These and backwards sled push totally and quickly fixed fairly significant knee pain I was experiencing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj6c9ELsquY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj6c9ELsquY
- nextos 3y agoWhat about rowing using a C2 ergometer or similar?
- dredmorbius 3y agoShould be good, so long as there are no obvious signs of injury or pain in the involved joints (ankle, knee, hip).
- SamoyedFurFluff 3y agoInteresting, I bike regularly and feel it has exacerbated issues with my leg tendons in general, around my knee, causing pain!
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoTry getting a bike fit (or just watch some videos to learn how to fit yourself). If it’s bad enough it might only be addressable with physical therapy.
- ahains31 3y agoJust here to remind people - biking with your seat too low is quite hard on knees. Folks typically recommend raising the seat until your leg/knees are almost straight at their furthest extension, but not quite.
- karlshea 3y agoHard seconding this, it’s so important. It’s really easy to get the seat height vaguely correct, there are a ton of YouTube videos explaining how to do it.
- euroderf 3y agoThat's what I detest about Youtube. Murphy's Law says I'll manage to pick the videos that are wrong.
- sentientslug 3y agoThe way to combat this is watch like 5 and follow the wisdom of the crowd.
- aussieguy1234 3y agoBe particularly careful here if you are tall and if that's the case, get the right bike for your height.
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoI got a professional bike fit. Definitely worth it if you ride a lot.
- mattclarkdotnet 3y agoSpecifically, with your shoes on, seated without dipping either hip, your leg should be slightly bent when your heel is on the pedal and the pedal is at the lowest point. Yes, all of that detail matters! A full bike fit is best but the above will be a good start.
- okdood64 3y agoHow much and often did you cycle?
- silverquiet 3y agoAs a child I had Perthes disease (a rare, degenerative disease of the hip), and it has given me pain for 3 decades now. I've known that a joint replacement is in my future for essentially my entire life, and I was told as a kid to wait until the technology was better. There has long been talk about biological replacements, but nothing seems close to panning out, and the standard still seems to mean sawing off parts of your bones and replacing them with metal. The biggest change seems to be in the plastic parts and the addition of ceramics in places. My understanding is that both hip and knee replacements have benefited.
- henry_bone 3y agoMy father has had both hips replaced in the fast few years. Both surgeries were very successful and he has retained full hip joint function. He no longer has pain in his hips. His surgeon used an approach that minimised damage to the muscles in the area. If I recall correctly, this meant he gain access to the hip joint via the posterior side of dad's upper leg, and went between muscle and tendon, rather than needing to cut muscle to get to the joint. I don't know if I'm remembering correctly, but dad healed up pretty quickly.
- calvinmorrison 3y agoFrom what I understand joint surgery especially knees and hips have a great ratio of benefit to cost
- zabzonk 3y agohip normally works very well - it's just a ball and socket joint. knee is a bit more tricky.
- wizerdrobe 3y agoI used to roll BJJ with a 50-ish year old man. As a teenager he suffered a debilitating car crash and hip replacement at the time, resulting in his having a cane until his second replacement circa 2020. This allowed him to walk cane free and practice marital arts. The technology is there for hip replacements, it would seem.
- darby_eight 3y agoDoes this bypass organ rejection or might this still require continual immunosuppressants? The only clue to this is the following: > Since cells are required to regenerate and maintain this living implant, the team will create two versions of NOVAJoint: a version that uses patient’s own cells and one that uses donor cells. Presuming that the donor cells do require immunosuppressants, this leaves the question of "will the version that does not require donor cells require immunosuppressants, and if so for how long?"
- samus 3y agoI guess the version with donor cells is fine if one is already taking immunosuppressants because of some other reason.
- stavros 3y ago[flagged]
- polishdude20 3y agoIt really hinges on these two teams.
- stavros 3y agoThe heroes we kneed.
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- etrautmann 3y agoplease don't do this here.
- CoastalCoder 3y agoI think we can flex this one time.
- okdood64 3y agoAgreed. If I needed a joke in the comments I’d go to Reddit.
- thekingshorses 3y agoIt feels like science is progressing in all aspects except spinal disc replacement/regeneration.
- NLPaep 3y agohttps://www.healio.com/news/orthopedics/20230209/discgenics-receives-fda-designation-for-injectable-disc-cell-therapy-treatment https://www.healio.com/news/orthopedics/20230209/discgenics-...
- harikb 3y agoLooking forward to this. My guess though will be that only methods that require a "subscription" will see the light of day. As in, things that require repeated applications, life long medication etc.
- deelowe 3y agoUnfortunately, repeated injections cause scar tissue build up. This is the main reason I've steered clear of any injection based therapy. They work fine at first but over time accelerate degeneration.
- okdood64 3y agoHair loss science sure isn’t.
- adrianN 3y agoI’m under the impression that there are multiple effective treatments for hair loss
- eropple 3y agoYeah, some of them work, at least for some people. Almost every male in my family, and all the direct-line male relatives on both sides, went bald by their late twenties. Maybe I just got some good dice rolls and so this is a tiger rock, but when I noticed my hair just beginning to thin around age 23 I got on finasteride and have been taking it ever since. I'm 36 now, full head of hair, and if anything my hair grows fast enough that it's kind of annoying how often I need a trim.
- etrautmann 3y agoThis seems to be a DARPA program kickoff with ambitious goals, not a press report of published results. I think a bit of cautious but enthusiastic skepticism is warranted here.
- spaceman_2020 3y agoI’ve been so looking forward to this tech I had a near complete menisectomy at age 16. Always told myself that by the time I’ll need a replacement, the tech would be good enough I’m now touching 36 and can start feeling my knee breaking down. Hopefully this will be commercially viable within 10 years
- jdawg777 3y ago> the team will create two versions of NOVAJoint: a version that uses patient’s own cells and one that uses donor cells. If the knee replacement uses the patients cells, won't the new knee be effected by Osteoarthritis as well?
- parentheses 3y agoif you use donor cells there's a chance of rejection. patient cells will probably limit bad outcomes