Project description
Smart knee brace to support cartilage repair
People suffering from arthritis often experience joint injuries, especially in the knees. Surgery to repair cartilage, although promising, requires careful control of joint pressure during recovery. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the KNEEUL project aims to develop the first wearable knee brace that reduces cartilage pressure after surgery and monitors it in real time. The project combines biomechanics, robotics and sensor technology to design a pressure-unloading orthotic device. Through advanced sensors and intelligent algorithms it goes a step further to enable non-invasive, real-time pressure estimation. Given that arthritis-related joint injuries affect over 520 million people globally, the KNEEUL wearable is expected to improve healing after surgery.
Objective
More than 520 million people worldwide suffer from arthritis, with 60% being women. The knee joint is the most commonly affected, accounting for 365 million cases. Cartilage repair surgery, a promising technique, requires strict control of joint pressure during the post-surgery recovery period. The KNEEUL project, a preclinical technology initiative, aims to develop a knee joint brace that unloads pressure on knee cartilage after surgery, thereby shortening patient recovery time. This type of wearable device, offering such functionality, is unprecedented and presents two key challenges: 1. Developing strategies to effectively unload knee cartilage pressure, and 2. Achieving non-invasive real-time estimation of knee cartilage pressure.
KNEEUL will be conducted with the Laboratoire d’Informatique, de Robotique et de Microélectronique de Montpellier (LIRMM) as the host institution, in collaboration with the Laboratoire de Mécanique et Génie Civil (LMGC) and the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU).
The project will address these key challenges through two main approaches:
1. Developing a wearable orthosis that effectively unloads inner knee joint pressure through non-invasive distraction of the femoral from the tibial part. This includes: 1) designing the pressure unloading mechanism, 2) creating a stiffness-adjustable attachment mechanism, and 3) developing and realizing the prototype. This research integrates mechanical transmission, biomechanics, and materials science.
2. Achieving real-time, non-invasive estimation and feedback of knee cartilage pressure. This includes: 1) implementing portable measurement hardware, 2) developing a pressure estimation model using multi-sensor data fusion, and 3) integrating the prototype and validating the research approach. This research integrates biomedical knowledge, sensing technology, and intelligent algorithms.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine rheumatology
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine surgery
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine physiotherapy
- natural sciences biological sciences biophysics
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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75794 Paris
France
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