Tennis is very easy to cause injury to wrist cartilage, but this injury is not obvious in the initial stage and may not appear any symptoms A team from the University of Tsukuba in Japan, led by Professor Yasuhiko Terada, recently created a truck based MRI system because it can detect the injury on the tennis court
It is intended as a portable, faster, more practical and cheaper alternative, rather than sending athletes to hospital and imaging their wrists through a full-body MRI scanner.
It is actually an improved version of the existing mobile MRI instrument, which is used to detect elbow injuries related to baseball and tennis. In addition to better magnetic shielding to provide higher quality images, the new wrist specific version is now powered by a portable generator - which means field users don't have to look for a power outlet.
In testing the technology, the scientists drove it to a tennis school, where they imaged the wrists of boys and girls aged 8 to 18. It was found that several people unknowingly developed wrist cartilage damage, although they did not feel any discomfort or loss of activity.
It is hoped that once further developed, the machine can be used to regularly check tennis players on the court and detect injuries early, so as to treat them before they become excessive problems. Terada also plans to develop versions for other sports to image joints such as ankle or knee.