Research

Searching for better treatments and cures

More than 300 different and distinct diseases affect the bones, joints and supporting structures, composed mainly of fibrous tissues such as ligaments, tendons and cartilage. Many of these diseases are congenital, others are inherited, and a great many are both congenital and inherited. For only a handful is the cause presently known.

Shriners Hospitals are the vanguard of orthopaedic, spinal cord injury and burn research, significantly adding to the progress that has been made in orthopaedic and burn care during the past few decades. What began as a $12,000 allocation in the 1960s has blossomed into an international research program involving most of the 22 Shriners Hospitals system and a multi-million dollar budget.

Some of the research projects now under way at Shriners Hospitals include studies on genetics and its relationship to bone and joint diseases; the search for a cure for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; and biochemical and clinical investigations of the hereditary disorders of connective tissue. Burn research projects include studies on how to prevent scar formation; why and how certain drugs (particularly for pain) react differently in burn children; infections in burns; and studies in nutrition and lung function after burn injuries.