Human and Biomechanical Considerations in Hand and Wrist Joint Disease

Degeneration of hands and wrists presents a major socioeconomic problem and barrier to healthy aging. In the UK >1.5million people have sought treatment for hand and wrist osteoarthritis (OA)1, which often affects the hand joint movement and function. Biomechanical analysis of the hand and wrist joints is at a much earlier level of understanding than the larger, lower-limb joints, although joint disease has a major impact on peoples' confidence and independence, impairing ability to write, open food packaging and dress themselves.

This studentship aims to leverage a unique dataset of finger kinematics, CT and MR imaging of 10 healthy hands, collected between 2012 and 2016 at UoS/SGH2 (Dickinson, Metcalf), to build upon a Horizon2020 'Apricot' project (Browne) and a 2019/2020 Group Design Project, to support a strong, internal, UK candidate in commencing an academic career.

The project aims to apply mixed methods, at the interface between biomechanical engineering and health sciences, to ascertain:
1) using a Patient & Public Involvement (PPI) framework and local arthritis patient support groups, to understand what the major issues are associated with hand and wrist joint pain, and what are the challenges associated with current hand and wrist arthritis treatments?
2) preliminary PPI results from the GDP indicate that joint instability is as great a concern as pain, but stability is not commonly predicted in models. Using our dataset, can we generate finger, thumb, and whole hand musculoskeletal models, and use these to evaluate these treatment options (i.e. joint fusion (arthrodesis), replacement (arthroplasty), and potentially different rehabilitation strategies (physiotherapy targeting different muscle groups), using outcome metrics that reflect the issues highlighted by the PPI patients?
3) can we enhance the models by generating a comparative movement dataset for people with osteoarthritis, and by integrating kinetics, through an instrumented upgrade to the Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure (SHAP) outcome measure (Metcalf), providing quantitative assessment of the models' validity, and this new biomechanical approach?

We make this application for a named candidate, Tinashe Munyebvu, 4th Yr MEng (Mechanical Eng). Tina is performing well in her MEng, and is a regular contributor to the department as a student ambassador, volunteer for outreach, and works at the Public Engagement for Research Unit (PERU).

[1] Arthritis Research UK (2013). Osteoarthritis in General Practice: Data and Perspectives.
[2] Metcalf, Phillips, Forrester, .... and Dickinson (2020), Quantifying Soft Tissue Artefacts and Imaging Variability in Motion Capture of the Fingers. Annals of Biomedical Engineering.