Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common joint disease affecting over 40 million Europeans. The number of patients with OA will increase by over 70% in developed countries during the next 20 years, while direct and indirect costs are estimated to increase by over 300%. Since the progression of OA is highly subject-specific, prevention of the disease can only become possible when the progression can be predicted for an individual patient. Hence, patient-specific numerical models have been developed to predict changes in the articular cartilage during OA progression.

Mechanobiological modeling can estimate the physiological and structural changes in the knee joint tissues (cartilage, meniscus, ligament, and tendon) under (ab)normal loading conditions. Based on this approach, we aim to improve the understanding of causes for 1) degeneration and/or regeneration of musculoskeletal tissues under abnormal mechanical loading and 2) altered tissue adaption process when the loading is switched back to normal levels.