https://medicalxpress.com/orthopedics-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Orthopaedics Somewhere in the world, a woman over 50 will have fractured a bone by the time you finish reading this sentence due to osteoporosis, a silent bone disease that can weaken the structural integrity of the skeletal system and a person's quality of life. The disease weakens bones and makes them more likely to break because of reduced bone mineral density and bone mass, and it affects an estimated 75 million people across Europe, the USA, and Japan. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-osteoporosis-fractures-fall-small-human.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:30:01 EDT news708777910 Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Hospital for Special Surgery have discovered the unspecialized stem cells that give rise to the body's tendons and ligaments, the tissues connecting muscles and bones. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-newly-stem-cell-reveals-potential.html Mon, 07 Sep 2026 11:00:03 EDT news707744588 In a study published in Scientific Reports, an international, multidisciplinary research team that included Binghamton University researchers identified a set of blood proteins that may explain why the corticosteroid prednisone, although beneficial in treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), can interfere with childhood growth and bone health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-blood-biomarkers-reveal-common-muscular.html Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:00:03 EDT news707745541 Bone and joint infections cause significant health problems for patients and lead to millions of dollars in added health costs per year, but clinicians lack reliable tools to predict which patients will develop severe or persistent disease. And when standard-of-care antibiotics fall short, there are no immunotherapies available to help patients mount a stronger defense against infections. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-cell-protein-treatment-joint-complication.html Thu, 03 Sep 2026 11:20:03 EDT news707652362 Total joint replacement is a proven treatment to relieve chronic knee pain, but concerns have been raised that particles from the device may migrate to the brain and cause memory problems. New research from Rush University shows this may not be a concern. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-total-joint-particles-brain.html Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:40:06 EDT news707129161 A machine-learning tool built from Swedish national health registry data can predict hip fracture risk with high accuracy without an in-person assessment and identifies far more at-risk individuals than current clinical screening practices, according to a study published Aug. 27 in the journal PLOS Medicine by Kristian Axelsson and Mattias Lorentzon of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and colleagues. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-registry-based-hip-fracture-current.html Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:00:12 EDT news706887254 Researchers have developed a "scaffold" that mimics natural tissue and could lead to more durable rotator cuff repairs, including for large injuries and cases involving bone and tissue degeneration that are often the most difficult to fix. Devised by a team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the new system was detailed in Science Advances. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-mimicking-natural-rotator-cuff.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 10:40:01 EDT news706956421 Robotic assistance is increasingly used in knee replacement surgery worldwide: in 6% of procedures in the UK, compared with 16% in the U.S. and 42% in Australia. The aim is to help surgeons place knee replacements more precisely and tailor surgery to a patient's anatomy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-robotic-knee-patient-outcomes-surgeon.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:00:05 EDT news706533961 Biomedical scientists have developed a new nanoscale imaging technique that allows researchers to directly see how bone-forming cells use nutrients and build bone inside the body. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-imaging-technique-reveals-bone-microscopic.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:40:02 EDT news706525861 When it comes to daily aches and pains, it's not uncommon for knees to be a main source. And while there can be many different long-term causes of such issues, osteoarthritis is often a reason why. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-osteoarthritis.html Tue, 18 Aug 2026 23:00:02 EDT news706258113 Osteoarthritis is a leading cause of chronic pain and disability worldwide. Current intra-articular standards of care, such as analgesics, corticosteroids and viscosupplements, provide only transient symptomatic relief and do not reliably modify disease progression. A major translational barrier is the rapid clearance of small-molecule drugs and biologics from synovial fluid, as well as the difficulty of delivering hydrophobic compounds at therapeutic concentrations without systemic exposure. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-hydrogel-prolongs-joint-retention-osteoarthritis.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 07:30:01 EDT news705814313 Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic, painful joint disease and a leading cause of disability. Despite its prevalence, therapies for osteoarthritis are limited and focus on symptom management. Now, researchers are combining genetic studies of Utah families with AI-based molecular biology tools to find new medications that may ultimately help treat OA at its source. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-osteoarthritis-medicines-ai-genetics.html Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:00:05 EDT news705159841 In January this year, a team of Johns Hopkins Medicine investigators, led by pathologist Aaron W. James, MD, Ph.D., discovered that sensory neurons in skeletal tissue are constantly sensing their environment and quickly respond to injuries. In new research published in Science Translational Medicine, they describe how this response profoundly affects growth plates, the soft cartilage at the end of bones in children that support normal growth and development, and how they respond to targeted treatment in mice. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-sensory-nerves-growth-plate-injuries.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 14:00:20 EDT news705068461 Researchers at the Department of Women's and Children's Health have used a novel technique to map which genes are active in different regions of the skeleton's growth plates. The findings offer new clues about how the body controls bone elongation—and why certain genetic mutations lead to skeletal disorders. The study is published in the journal Bone Research. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-spatial-growth-plate-tissue-bones.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 13:00:06 EDT news705148621 Teeth and bones are among the hardest structures in the human body, but certain inherited conditions can rob them of that strength. One of them is hypophosphatasia (HPP), a rare, lifelong genetic bone disorder that disrupts the development of bones and teeth, leaving them unusually soft and fragile. A recent study set out to determine how common HPP is across Central and Eastern Europe and how it presents in patients. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-rare-bone-disease-untreated-patients.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 15:20:03 EDT news704969011 A protein best known for protecting the ends of chromosomes also helps muscle stem cells preserve their identity and repair damaged tissue, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The findings offer new clues for treating muscular dystrophy and provide new insights into the mechanisms of cancer. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-chromosome-protein-muscle-rarity-cancers.html Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:00:02 EDT news704641562 Seoul National University (SNU) College of Engineering announced that a research team led by Nathaniel S. Hwang, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, has developed a bioceramic fracture fixation material that promotes bone regeneration by precisely controlling the timing of magnesium ion (Mg²⁺) release to suppress inflammatory immune responses during osteoporotic fracture healing. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-bioceramic-coated-implant-osteoporotic-fracture.html Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:00:02 EDT news704554681