Can you tell us a little about your research area? How would you describe your work?
I am primarily a clinician and my research questions emerge from what I encounter in everyday life with my patients. The interest in arthrosis in particular was awakened through my work with patients who have wrist arthrosis. I saw that there was a lack of studies comparing the outcome of wrist arthroplasty versus rigid surgery, which raised questions about surgical treatment choices, but also a curiosity about non-surgical treatment options.
It must be unusual as a surgeon to be interested in non-surgical options?
Yes, it probable is. But it is very rewarding to work interdisciplinary together with physio and occupational therapists - we learn a lot from each other's perspectives. My former doctoral student, Sara Larsson, who is a physiotherapist, did her dissertation on, among other things, exercise as first-line treatment for wrist osteoarthritis.
Wrist osteoarthritis is a relatively uncommon form of osteoarthritis and affects men to a greater extent than women. Most often there is an underlying biomechanical cause, such as an unhealed navicular fracture, a ligament injury, or possibly repeated small traumas, such as prolonged manual work.
My other research focus is hand osteoarthritis, which includes both the base of the thumb and the finger joints. Interest in hand osteoarthritis has increased in recent years – it is actually the most common form of osteoarthritis after knee osteoarthritis. I am trying to understand which underlying risk factors contribute to the development of hand osteoarthritis - above all those that we can influence.
Can you tell us about your ongoing research project?
Right now I'm investigating metabolic co-morbidity - above all obesity and elevated blood lipids - and the risk of developing hand osteoarthritis. The goal is to understand how these metabolism-related factors can affect the development of the disease.
What do you hope will happen in your research area?
Women have up to four times as high a risk of suffering from hand arthritis compared to men aged 50-60, i.e. in connection with menopause. They often have more symptoms and experience greater discomfort from their hand arthritis. Despite these clear gender differences, and the obvious connection with menopause, the area is still very little studied. Metabolic changes in menopause may be part of the explanation - but we need more knowledge to understand the connections. I hope that future research focuses more on gender differences in hand osteoarthritis, as it may be a key to both a better understanding of the disease and more individualized treatment.
What do you consider to be your greatest contribution to date in your field of research?
To contribute to a changed view of hand osteoarthritis - from being considered solely as a mechanical joint disease to also including metabolic causes. It means a kind of paradigm shift, because it opens up new ways of understanding, preventing and treating the disease. Instead of focusing only on strain and surgery, we can also target systemic factors such as obesity, blood lipids and hormonal changes.
Publications about the projects?
