Examining the Nexus Amongst Joint Degeneration, Disability, and Chronic Pain Using a Rodent Model of Post-Traumatic Knee Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a pervasive chronic, degenerative disease that prevents patients from performing many simple daily activities. OA patients tend to seek treatment only after significant knee pain has developed. However, since the severity of pain does not always correlate with radiographic evidence of joint destruction, OA patients can present across a wide-range of degenerative scales. While knee pain does tend to be more severe during activity, the specific source of the knee pain is often unknown. In addition, since OA is usually not diagnosed until moderate to severe stages of disease, the etiology of OA is often unknown. Multiple factors have been suggested to contribute to OA pathogenesis, including genetics, repetitive loading, trauma, and obesity; but regardless of the etiology, OA progression is challenging to alter or stop. Understanding the relationship between OA-related degeneration and OA-related pain will help improve diagnosis and treatment of OA. The global aim of this dissertation is to help bridge the gap between tissue degeneration and symptomatic pain and disability using a rodent post-traumatic model of knee OA. The data presented in this dissertation 1) correlate behavioral and degenerative profiles in early, middle, and late stages of OA, 2) introduce a new automated gait analysis method, 3) describe a semi-automated graphic user interface (GUI) for the evaluation of knee OA in rodents, and 4) introduce quantitative histological measures describing changes in bone and synovium that correlate with behavior. By better understanding OA pathogenesis and the relationship between OA pain and joint degeneration, new treatments and preventative measures can be developed for OA