The International Combined Orthopaedic Research Societies (ICORS) held their 10th World Congress of Orthopaedic Research in the first week of September 2022, this meeting promotes translational and clinical musculoskeletal research and is attended by an eclectic group of scientists, engineers, clinicians, and surgeons. It was an honor to travel to Edinburgh to present two podium presentations at this conference as part of my PhD, with the support of the Graham Clarke Institute and the ARC Centre for Medical Implant Technologies (CMIT).
The first presentation I gave was focused on a novel measurement and modelling system that our team have created for investigating how humans bite and chew. This new system is allowing us to quantify how humans recruit the masticatory muscles to move the mandible and create the forces required to grind and chew food, a measurement capability that has not previously been possible and which is opening the door to study the effects of new maxillofacial interventions and therapies.
For the second presentation of the conference, I reported the functional outcomes of patients undergoing total temporomandibular joint replacement surgery, this work is fascinating as it is highlighting new design pathways for this relatively new treatment, and the presentation provoked some compelling conversations with members of the audience.
The highlight of the trip however was hearing of the novel orthopaedic research being undertaken globally. Particularly fascinating presentations ranged from the application of artificial intelligence, and new musculoskeletal modelling techniques to the field, the rapidly increasing understanding of physiotherapy outcomes, and new surgical training techniques including the use of surgical robots for minimally invasive surgeries.
Finally, the conference was closed in the breathtaking McEwan Hall at the University of Edinburgh.