Carl W. Imhauser, PhD

Dr. Carl Imhauser is an Associate Scientist in the Department of Biomechanics at HSS. He joined the Biomechanics Department in 2006 as a post-doctoral researcher and transitioned to a faculty position in 2010 after completing an NIH-funded post-doctoral fellowship through the Clinical and Translational Science Center at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Imhauser completed his undergraduate (Temple University 1997) and graduate training (Drexel University 2004) in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, respectively. His graduate research focused on image-based computational modeling of human joints.

Reflecting the broader mission of the Biomechanics Department, the overarching research mission of his group is to enable world-class orthopaedic care through innovative engineering. This mission is accomplished by providing objective, personalized, mechanics-based rationale for treatment decisions and then translating research findings from the lab to clinical practice.

The research focus of Dr. Imhauser's group centers on the topic of joint stability. This focus is driven by the belief that understanding the mechanisms by which a joint maintains stability is critical to addressing common clinical challenges encountered in the treatment of sports injuries and in total knee arthroplasty. In sports medicine, his team addresses the problem of early graft failure following reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in high-risk athletes including young, active men and women participating in pivoting sports, such as soccer and basketball. In knee arthroplasty, his research focuses on patient dissatisfaction stemming from feelings of knee joint instability.

Specific goals are to: 1) enhance ACL injury prevention protocols; 2) design more sensitive and specific ACL injury screening tools; 3) develop novel surgical treatments customized to an individual's sex, sport, age, level of play, and injury status; and 4) devise novel implant designs and surgical techniques to reduce incidence rates of knee instability following total knee replacement. This interdisciplinary work necessitates close collaboration among orthopaedic surgeons, radiologists, therapists, statisticians, engineers, and epidemiologists. 

A suite of in vitro, in vivo, and in silico tools are used to achieve these goals. Patient-specific computational modeling, cadaveric robotic testing, and objective in vivo clinical assessment of knee stability using custom designed robotic measurement devices are key model systems used in this research. On-going projects include the following: 1) quantifying loads applied during common clinical assessments of knee stability such as the pivot shift exam to develop more reliable and objective exams; 2) identifying more sensitive and specific biomechanical risk factors for ACL injury via population-based computational multibody dynamics modeling of the knee; and 3) developing an ‘early warning system’ for ACL graft failure via integrated 3D MRI-imaging of graft structure and composition, in silico prediction of ACL graft forces during high demand activities, and objective assessment of 3D knee stability via in vivo robotic testing.

A second research focus is improving reproducibility of research findings in modeling and simulation (M&S) of the knee joint through a multi-institutional and open collaboration among experts in the field. In particular, the subjective decisions of the model developer, the 'art' of M&S, may be a critical barrier to achieve reproducibility impeding adoption of these powerful tools. This collaboration addresses this issue through prospective documentation of modeling workflows, head-to-head comparison of model predictions across groups, and widespread dissemination of model results. 

Dr. Imhauser is an active member of the Orthopaedic Research Society. His team’s work on the biomechanical function of lateral extraarticular tenodesis in combination with ACL reconstruction was recognized with the 2020 Cabaud Memorial Award. This award is given annually by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine to the best submitted paper in preclinical research.

Research

The research focus of Dr. Imhauser's group centers on the topic of joint stability addressing common clinical problems encountered in the treatment of sports injuries and in total knee arthroplasty. In sports medicine, his team addresses the problem of early graft failure following reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in high-risk athletes including young, active men and women participating in cutting sports, such as soccer and basketball. In knee arthroplasty, his research focuses on patient dissatisfaction stemming from feelings of knee joint instability.

The mission of his research is to reduce rates of early graft failure following ACLR and to improve patient satisfaction after TKA by providing objective, personalized, mechanics-based rationale for treatment decisions. Patient-specific computational modeling, cadaveric robotic testing, and objective in vivo assessment of knee stability using custom designed measurement devices are key model systems used in this research. The overarching goal is to translate research findings from the lab to the patient to accomplish the following: 1) enhance ACL injury prevention protocols; 2) design more sensitive and specific ACL injury screening tools; 3) develop novel surgical treatments customized to an individual's sex, sport, age, level of play, and injury status; and 4) devise novel implant designs and surgical techniques to reduce incidence rates of knee instability following total knee replacement. This interdisciplinary work necessitates close collaboration among orthopaedic surgeons, therapists, statisticians, engineers, and epidemiologists.

A second research focus is improving reproducibility of research findings in modeling and simulation (M&S) of the knee joint through a multi-institutional and open collaboration among experts in the field. In particular, the subjective decisions of the model developer, the 'art' of M&S, may be a critical barrier to achieve reproducibility impeding adoption of these powerful tools. This collaboration addresses this issue through prospective documentation of modeling workflows, head-to-head comparison of model predictions across groups, and widespread dissemination of model results.

Appointments

Awards

Cabaud Memorial Research Award, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine 2020
Travelling Scientist of the ACL Study Group 2018-20

Languages

English

Selected Publications

Pearle AD, Nawabi DH, Marom N, Wickiewicz TL, Imhauser CW. Editorial Commentary: The Pivot Shift and Lachman Examinations: Teammates With Distinct Roles. Arthroscopy. 2021 Feb;37(2):682-685. doi: 10.1016/j.arthro.2020.12.001. PMID: 33546804

Marom N, Ouanezar H, Jahandar H, Zayyad ZA, Fraychineaud T, Hurwit D, Imhauser CW, Wickiewicz TL, Pearle AD, Nawabi DH. Lateral Extra-articular Tenodesis Reduces Anterior Cruciate Ligament Graft Force and Anterior Tibial Translation in Response to Applied Pivoting and Anterior Drawer Loads. Am J Sports Med. 2020 Nov;48(13):3183-3193. doi: 10.1177/0363546520959322. Epub 2020 Oct 5. PMID: 33017168

Elmasry SS, Sculco PK, Kia M, Kahlenberg CA, Cross MB, Pearle AD, Mayman DJ, Wright TM, Westrich GH, Imhauser CW. A geometric ratio to predict the flexion gap in total knee arthroplasty. J Orthop Res. 2020 Jul;38(7):1637-1645. doi: 10.1002/jor.24719. Epub 2020 May 25. PMID: 32410240

Wang D, Kent RN 3rd, Amirtharaj MJ, Hardy BM, Nawabi DH, Wickiewicz TL, Pearle AD, Imhauser CW. Tibiofemoral Kinematics During Compressive Loading of the ACL-Intact and ACL-Sectioned Knee: Roles of Tibial Slope, Medial Eminence Volume, and Anterior Laxity. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2019 Jun 19;101(12):1085-1092. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.18.00868. PMID: 31220025

Erdemir A, Besier TF, Halloran JP, Imhauser CW, Laz PJ, Morrison TM, Shelburne KB. Deciphering the "Art" in Modeling and Simulation of the Knee Joint: Overall Strategy. J Biomech Eng. 2019 Jul 1;141(7):0710021-07100210. doi: 10.1115/1.4043346. PMID: 31166589 Free PMC article. Review.

Imhauser CW, Kent RN 3rd, Boorman-Padgett J, Thein R, Wickiewicz TL, Pearle AD. New parameters describing how knee ligaments carry force in situ predict interspecimen variations in laxity during simulated clinical exams. J Biomech. 2017 Nov 7;64:212-218. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2017.09.032. Epub 2017 Oct 7. PMID: 29078961

Thein R, Boorman-Padgett J, Stone K, Wickiewicz TL, Imhauser CW, Pearle AD. Biomechanical Assessment of the Anterolateral Ligament of the Knee: A Secondary Restraint in Simulated Tests of the Pivot Shift and of Anterior Stability. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2016 Jun 1;98(11):937-43. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.15.00344. PMID: 27252438

For more publications, please see the PubMed listing.

Selected Presentations

Imhauser CW. Functional Anatomy and Biomechanics, In: Pediatric and Adolescent Knee Surgery. Wolters Kluwer; 2015