University of Waterloo

Interdisciplinary Health Technology Innovation for Complex Spinal Disorders

Prof. Stewart McLachlin, Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering

Mar 24, 2023, 11:30am EC4-2101A

Spinal disorders resulting from aging, injury and disease affect nearly one million people each year in Ontario, with millions spent on interventional treatment costs for the healthcare system. Spine surgery represents a large portion of this expenditure; however, many procedures and devices do not meet the needs of individual patients leading to poor surgical outcomes. This talk will discuss how the Orthopaedic Mechatronics (OrthoTron) Laboratory at the University of Waterloo uses a combination of experimental and computational tools to investigate current challenges in spinal surgery and develop next-generation technologies to address the global burden of disease resulting from spinal disorders.