I could jump for joy! BUT… MY ARTHRITIS!!!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Our knees absorb one and a half times our body weight. That wear and tear adds up as we age. And it hurts! Is the only solution…the dreaded KNEE REPLACEMENT?
Thanh Nguyen and colleagues from the University of Connecticut might have an alternative.
They designed a special tissue made out of tiny fibers containing piezo-electricity. When squeezed, the fiber produces a burst of electricity! They injected this tissue into the knee cartilage of an injured rabbit. After a month of rest and recovery, the rabbit got to jump onto a treadmill for observation.
Results? One small hop for a rabbit, one giant leap for rabbit-kind! As the rabbit hopped on the treadmill, the injected tissue generated a steady electrical field that stimulated new cartilage growth!
Current treatments for cartilage degeneration can be invasive and risky. The researchers believe that future treatment could come down to a simple injection.
Now that’s a shot in the knee! OUCH!
Reference: Liu, Y., Dzidotor, G., Le, T. T., Vinikoor, T., Morgan, K., Curry, E. J., … & Nguyen, T. D. (2022). Exercise-induced piezoelectric stimulation for cartilage regeneration in rabbits. Science translational medicine, 14(627), eabi7282.