3D Printed Ligaments Could Change the Way Common Injuries are Treated
Ligament tears are becoming more common in sports. They’re painful and debilitating, and difficult to treat. The current standard is to replace the torn ligament with tendons, but that can cause additional problems down the line.
“What can happen over time is that the tendon itself begins to kind of stretch and become a little bit relaxed in the joint,” said Christina Salas, PhD, a scientist at the University of New Mexico. “Then (the tendon) becomes deficient again.”
Dr. Salas is currently working on creating 3D printed ligaments, which she says has never been done before. It’s an area of focus she has been working on for some time, with help from students and professors at the University of New Mexico.
“This is something that hopefully can reduce some of those failures we see,” said Dustin Richter, Assistant Professor of Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery. “And get people back to doing what they enjoy.”
The researchers have developed a special technique involving electrospinning, which uses electric force to create fibers.
“The near-field electrospinning technique that we have added to the bio-printer actually produces really highly aligned fibers that replicate the ligament tissue,” said Dr. Salas.
Doctors could then take a CT or MRI scan of a patient’s damaged joint and create an exact replica using 3D printing. This could allow for less-invasive surgery, and could be a more permanent solution as the synthetic 3D printed ligament would not wear out or weaken.
“We want to make sure that those patients can truly maintain their full function even longer as they grow older in life,” said Dr. Salas.
The biggest challenge Dr. Salas and her colleagues are facing is figuring out how to attach the 3D printed ligaments to the bone. Dr. Salas recently received a two-year, $150,000 grant for the research.
3D printing is changing the way doctors and scientists look at the treatment of common injuries, such as torn ligaments. Recently, Queensland researchers revealed a new method of 3D printing joint cartilage, which could greatly shorten recovery time after surgery for arthritis and joint injuries – and that’s only one example of the extensive research that is taking place around the world involving the use of 3D printing for the repair of damaged bones and muscles.
Dr. Salas’ research involves artificial ligaments, but other work is taking place that involves 3D printing new tissue using the patient’s own stem cells. Many people automatically jump directly to talking about 3D printing organs when 3D bioprinting is mentioned, but major progress is being made in other areas, like the treatments of degenerative illnesses and common injuries. With 3D printing, athletes have the potential to stay in the game for much longer than they would have otherwise. There may also be less need for things like walkers and wheelchairs as people age, as diseases like arthritis are healed with new cartilage.
When 3D printed organs eventually become realized, they will potentially enable people to live longer than ever before. Until then, bioprinting has the ability to help people live with better quality of life for their natural lifespans.
Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.
[Source: KRQE]
Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter
Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
Print Services
Upload your 3D Models and get them printed quickly and efficiently.
You May Also Like
CEAD and Damen Partnering to Develop HDPE 3D Printed Workboat
Dutch 3D printing firm CEAD partnered with Damen Compact Crafts (DCCr), part of the Damen Shipyards Group, to develop a 3D printed HDPE workboat. CEAD makes gantry and robot arm-based...
3D Printing News Briefs, May 21, 2025: Medical Training Models, Connectors, Makerspace, & More
We’re starting with research and medical in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, as a research team from Caltech is using sound to 3D print deep inside living tissue, and rural...
3D Printing News Briefs, May 14, 2025: Thermal Solutions, Food Safety, & More
In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, Meltio announced a new sales partner in the Benelux region, and Eplus3D is helping TEMISTh to revolutionize metal additive manufacturing in thermal solutions. Moving...
Push Button Metal 3D Printing for $50,000?
In 2021 we wrote an article about “Push Button Metal, the low cost metal 3D printing evolution we are not talking about.” In it, we talked about One Click Metal,...