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IMPAKT-HiP

Preventing Hip Pain

IMPAKT-HiP_Phase4About Phase 4: The Open MRI Project

 

 

 

Why do this research project?

Led by Dr. Dave Wilson, the OPENMRI project will look closely at how femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) may be causing damage to the hip joint that could eventually lead to hip osteoarthritis (OA).

By studying what this common bony deformity is doing to the hip joint, researchers may identify what causes early signs of damage that can appear well before hip OA has started to develop. These findings are important because they could lead to strategies for preventing early damage to the hip.

FAI is a mild deformity that can be present in the hip joint socket or the thigh bone (or a combination of both). The videos below demonstrate how the deformity (whether in the hip joint socket or the thigh bone) can cause the hip bones to bump into one another and produce damage if a person moves in certain ways.

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FAI in the thigh bone

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FAI in the hip joint

What was done?

Located at the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility in Vancouver, a new technology, in the form of an Upright Open MRI scanner, was used to look at people with and without these mild bony hip deformities. Installed in 2011, this Open MRI is unique. It is the only one in the world dedicated to research, and it allows researchers to capture images of people’s hips in many different positions for the first time.