Medicine

Gluteal tendon repair is used to treat torn gluteal tendons. The evidence for efficacy is limited to case series data but seems to support the procedure. Our studies are focussing on measuring gait and other affected activities, as well as patient reported outcomes, to determine whether the procedure is effective in the long term. This work is being undertaken in collaboration with the University of Canberra’s Associate Professor Angela Fearon.

The Canberra Hospital is the main trauma centre for Canberra and the surrounding area seeing over 5000 patients per year. This provide an opportunity to better understand a wide range of trauma Therefore, many clinical studies are being undertaken to assess the outcomes of trauma management.

In conjunction with consulting Orthopaedic Surgeons Dr M. Saqib Zafar, and the Canberra Hospital Trauma Fellow, TORU Staff have developed a database to integrate into Standard of Care at Canberra Hospital to track fractures in the ACT.

Our unit runs a number of studies which examine many aspects of upper and lower limb arthroplasty.

• Kinematics and function following total joint Arthroplasty
• Impingement after total hip replacement. Who, Why, and Treatments
• Assessment of Knee Balance in Total Knee Arthroplasty
• Rehabilitation before and following total joint Arthroplasty
• Registry based Survival Analysis
• Development of a Database to Track Periprosthetic Joint Infections

Injuries to the neck following whiplash injury are one of the most common causes of chronic neck pain and disability in the developed world but diagnosis is difficult because there is no 'test' to identify it.

The purpose of this study is to investigate a previously unexamined structure in the neck which might show damage after whiplash. If this structure proves to be a good marker of how severe the injury is it might enable clinicians to better predict the severity of the injury and provide more effective treatment in the future.

Management of bone diseases such as arthritis, trauma and fractures frequently requires the implantation of prostheses, internal fixation devices including fixation plates, rods and screws. Issues raised from the medical implants which limit the long term success of orthopaedic surgery are inaccurate sizes of implants, non-personalized design of implants, weak adhesion strength of coating material on the surface of implant, and wear debris accumulation caused by imprecisely fitted de-vice around the bone surface.

Management of fractures of bone frequently requires the implantation of prosthesis, internal fixation devices such as plates, rods and screws in order to stabilise the injury. However, due to the aging demographics of many populations, osteoporosis is becoming more prevalent. Osteoporotic bone is more prone to fracture than normal bone, and current orthopaedic implant materials are not ideal for the osteoporotic cases.