Effectively Measuring Exercise-related Variations in T1ρ and T2 Relaxation Times of Healthy Articular Cartilage
Publication: Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Dimitri A. Kessler, James W. MacKay, Scott McDonald, Stephen McDonnell, Andrew J. Grainger, Alexandra R. Roberts, Robert L. Janiczek, Martin J. Graves, Joshua D. Kaggie, Fiona J. Gilbert
The researchers wanted to further understanding of the biomechanical properties of articular cartilage in our knee joints. By combining quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and sophisticated 3D surface analysis methods of articular cartilage they were able to determine changes in cartilage microstructure following a mild, 5-minute stepping exercise in young, healthy individuals.
The team determined that our quantitative MRI methods are sensitive to changes of different compositional characteristics of articular cartilage such as changes in its water content or macromolecular structure following the stepping exercise. While previous studies have shown that changes in cartilage morphology (thickness, volume) recovers almost fully in about 45–90 minutes, they showed that the compositional changes induced by the exercise do not recover within an hour following cessation.
This is important because measuring the responses of cartilage to dynamic joint loading may present a way of determining cartilage health state as well as differences in healthy and diseased cartilage. With the exercise performed in this study being short and of limited duration, it could be extended for use in patients with early‐stage knee joint disease and minimal accompanying pain. As exercise is recommended as a form of conservative management of joint disease-related symptoms, the study provides an initial interpretation of short-term changes that occur in cartilage microstructure in response to exercise.