Presented by Professor Claire Brockett, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Osteoarthritis (OA) of the ankle is less common than other joints of the lower limb, largely as it does not appear to be a target joint for primary OA.  Up to 80% of osteoarthritis in the ankle follows prior trauma and presents at a much younger age than other joints (typically 50 years old compared with 72 years old for knee) - and ankle OA is known to have as debilitating an impact on quality of life as heart disease. In this talk I am going to share my research on potential disruptive interventions following initial ankle injury as well as exploring end stage interventions - from mechanical performance to patient perspectives.

I am a biomechanics and medical engineering academic based in the Department of Mechanical Engineering with research focussed on foot and ankle across ankle injury, arthritis, diabetic foot ulcers  and (mostly) pre-clinical evaluation of interventions - from ligament repair to joint replacement.