Healthy Joints
Preventing and treating osteoarthritis earlier through technology, data and personalized care
Healthy joints are essential for mobility, independence and quality of life throughout life. Yet osteoarthritis (OA) is rapidly becoming one of the largest chronic health challenges worldwide. In the Netherlands alone, the number of people living with osteoarthritis is expected to increase sharply in the coming decades due to ageing and rising obesity rates. Today, osteoarthritis is often diagnosed relatively late, when structural joint damage and chronic pain are already present. Treatments are largely focused on symptom management and are often not tailored to the underlying causes or the individual patient. At the same time, osteoarthritis is a highly complex disease influenced by biomechanics, inflammation, genetics, behaviour, lifestyle and societal factors.
Healthy Joints brings together clinicians, engineers, imaging specialists, data scientists and social scientists from Erasmus MC, TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam to improve prevention, early diagnosis and personalized treatment of osteoarthritis. The programme focuses on understanding joint health and disease from cell to society, while developing technologies and approaches that can support earlier intervention and more targeted care.
What the programme works on
Healthy Joints combines research, technology development, clinical studies and implementation research to better understand how osteoarthritis develops and how it can be detected and treated earlier. A central focus is the development of new diagnostic and monitoring approaches that can identify early-stage osteoarthritis before irreversible damage occurs. The programme combines advanced imaging, computational biomechanics, machine learning and clinical expertise to better understand how joints are loaded, how tissues change over time and how disease progresses in different patient groups.
The programme also develops new biological and mechanobiological models to study how mechanical stress, inflammation and tissue degeneration interact at cellular level. These models are used to improve understanding of disease mechanisms and to explore possibilities for targeted interventions. In parallel, Healthy Joints works on behavioural and implementation-related aspects of care. This includes research into patient preferences, health behaviour, exercise interventions, education and the practical integration of early-stage osteoarthritis care into primary care settings.
A key example of the programme’s interdisciplinary approach is the MOBI lab (MOtion Biomechanics & Imaging), where advanced imaging technologies are combined with biomechanics and movement analysis in a clinical setting. The lab enables researchers and clinicians to study joint loading and movement patterns in patients with early osteoarthritis and people at high risk of developing the disease.
Featured story
Less pain from osteoarthritis thanks to new technology
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How can technology help identify osteoarthritis earlier and improve personalized treatment? In this story, Professor Jaap Harlaar explains how the Healthy Joints programme combines biomechanics and advanced imaging in the MOBI lab to better understand joint loading and cartilage stress in individual patients. By connecting new technology directly to clinical practice, the programme aims to support earlier diagnosis, more targeted treatment and reduced pain for people with osteoarthritis. Read the interview/story. |
Innovation highlights
MOBI Lab (MOtion Biomechanics & Imaging)
The MOBI lab combines biomechanics with high-precision imaging technologies including MRI, photon-counting CT, fluoroscopy, motion capture and EMG to study joint loading and movement in people with early-stage osteoarthritis and individuals at high risk of developing OA. The lab opened in 2024 and patient measurements have started following pilot testing.
Early-stage osteoarthritis diagnostics
Researchers within Healthy Joints are developing and validating diagnostic criteria for early-stage knee osteoarthritis for use in primary care. Studies assessing feasibility and implementation in GP practice are ongoing, while the work is also connected to international OARSI initiatives on early OA classification criteria.
AI and machine learning for OA progression
Healthy Joints combines machine learning, medical imaging and clinical data to identify early osteoarthritis patterns and improve prediction of disease progression across different patient groups. Researchers are developing multimodal models using large osteoarthritis datasets and imaging biomarkers.
Advanced imaging for osteoarthritis and pain mechanisms
The programme develops and validates imaging approaches including PET-MRI, radiomics and ultrasound imaging to better detect early osteoarthritis processes and pain-related changes in joints and bone tissue. Several technologies are currently being tested and validated in clinical research settings.
Joint-on-a-chip and cellular models
The programme develops new cell and tissue culture models to study how mechanical loading and inflammation influence osteoarthritis development at cellular level. These models support research into disease mechanisms and future targeted therapies.
WalkWell gait retraining research
Healthy Joints is developing WalkWell, a gait retraining device aimed at helping osteoarthritis patients improve movement patterns and reduce harmful joint loading. The project is currently in development and includes collaboration with industrial partners and end users, alongside preparations for regulatory and CE-certification pathways.
Patient education and community engagement
Through the Artrose Gezond platform, workshops and educational materials, researchers work together with patients and healthcare professionals to improve accessible osteoarthritis information and strengthen patient involvement in research and care.
Bioreactor system for mechanobiology research
The programme uses a bioreactor system to study how mechanical loading affects cartilage tissue and cellular responses related to osteoarthritis. This infrastructure helps connect biomechanical measurements from the MOBI lab with cellular and metabolic processes involved in joint degeneration.
Shared facility: the MOBI lab
The MOBI lab (MOtion Biomechanics & Imaging) brings technology from Delft to Rotterdam. In this research lab, we combine biomechanical analyses with dynamic X-rays. This allows us to examine very precisely how joints are stressed and will eventually enable doctors to start the right treatment sooner. The unique location in the middle of the outpatient clinic allows us to innovate, implement and scale up more quickly. As a result, patients benefit earlier from diagnostic methods and treatments.
Policy & societal impact
Healthy Joints addresses a growing societal challenge with major consequences for mobility, quality of life and healthcare systems. The programme contributes to the transition from late-stage symptom management towards earlier diagnosis, prevention and more personalized treatment approaches. Several programme activities focus explicitly on implementation in healthcare practice, including studies on early-stage exercise therapy, primary care diagnostics and patient-centred education. Researchers are also involved in international initiatives related to early-stage osteoarthritis classification and trial design development.
Healthy Joints additionally contributes to broader healthcare innovation through collaborations with regulators, healthcare professionals, patient organizations and implementation partners. The programme combines technological innovation with attention to usability, patient perspectives and healthcare integration.
Partners & collaborations
The programme collaborates with healthcare professionals, patient communities, primary care partners, SMEs and international research networks. Partnerships include collaborations with companies such as Moveshelf, Motek, Lifetec Group, Chiron, Optics11 and WellBones, alongside international collaborations with institutions including ETH Zurich, TU Eindhoven and UMC Utrecht. Healthy Joints is also connected to broader osteoarthritis initiatives including OARSI, ReumaNederland and the PROBE consortium on personalized osteoarthritis treatment and trial design.
Education & talent development
Healthy Joints strongly integrates education and talent development into the programme. Students from technical medicine, engineering, medicine, computer science, behavioural sciences and health economics contribute through internships, thesis projects and interdisciplinary research. The programme also contributes to new interdisciplinary teaching activities, including courses in advanced image processing, motion analysis and osteoarthritis care for healthcare professionals. Researchers are additionally involved in educational initiatives for GPs, patient education platforms and public outreach activities
Looking ahead
In the coming years, Healthy Joints aims to further validate and implement new imaging, biomechanics and machine learning approaches for earlier osteoarthritis diagnosis and more targeted treatment. Several technologies and interventions, including MOBI diagnostics, WalkWell and new imaging approaches, are currently moving through testing and validation phases in clinical populations.
The programme will also continue working on implementation in primary care, patient-centred education and international guideline development for early-stage osteoarthritis. Further development of shared infrastructure such as the MOBI lab, alongside new interdisciplinary collaborations and educational activities, will support the programme’s long-term ambition to improve joint health and help prevent chronic disability.
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