• Question: how close are you to finding out the reason why we get athritis

    Asked by christopherturner to Dave on 14 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: David Briggs

      David Briggs answered on 14 Jun 2013:

      Hi Christopher,

      We know some of the “risk factors” that increase the chances of us getting it (like being overweight or sports injuries), but we don’t actually understand why the cartilage starts to breakdown.

      Cartilage is a gooey jelly like covering over the ends of bones at joints – when it breaks down, the bones rub and grate over each other which causes more damage and pain whenever we move. The trouble with cartilage is that our bodies are rubbish at repairing it. I’m trying to figure out what our body is doing to try and repair it and find out if we can help it along.

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