The Department of Veterans Affairs has opened a new facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to treat veterans with osteoarthritis.
The Cartilage Regeneration using Advanced Technologies to Enable Motion Center - or CReATE Motion Center — at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center is designed to develop treatments that minimize the need for joint replacement surgeries by stopping the progression of the disease early, retaining the “good” cartilage in the mid-stage of the disease, or regenerating replacement cartilage to restore motion in the late stages of the disease.
“Veterans live with osteoarthritis at far higher rates than the general population, and this facility will be critical to helping those Vets manage their condition and avoid surgery,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough, who attended the center’s ribbon cutting on March 26. “At this center, we will work to develop new technologies, approaches, and treatments for osteoarthritis — and improve veterans’ lives in the process.”
The center is particularly critical because veterans are diagnosed with osteoarthritis at a much higher rate than the general population, VA said in a release. Roughly one in three veterans have some form of arthritis.
Osteoarthritis is a deterioration of the cartilage that caps bones in the joints. It is the most common form of arthritis, often impacting people from middle age onward causing, pain and stiffness, especially in the hip, knee, shoulder, and thumb joints.
In 2022 and 2023, VA performed 13,157 and 15,311 joint replacement surgeries respectively, with knee replacements accounting for about half of those surgeries.
The CReATE Motion Center is the result of a decade’s worth of research work on osteoarthritis at the Philadelphia VA, in collaboration with the Atlanta VA Medical Center.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.