Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects (NSERC partnered)

The objective is to develop an innovative surgical navigation method to aid reconstructive hip surgeries, particularly total hip replacement. The general hypothesis is that identification of the patient's biomechanics during surgery will improve postoperative function and reduce the rate of complications. To investigate this thoroughly, this new team will consider two technical problems: how to determine a hip coordinate frame from kinematic data, and, how to relate this kinematic frame to the traditional anatomical coordinate frame that is based on the bony anatomy of the pelvis. If the anatomic frame can be easily found, and the kinematic frame can be reliably established, there is considerable potential for improvement in the quality of life of aging Canadians. This project is aimed at producing the technical innovations that surgeons will need to continue to improve clinical outcomes of a frequently performed orthopedic surgery.