THERAMECHANICS: HOW ACTING ON MECHANICS WILL HELP CONCEIVE NEW MEDICAL TREATMENTS

Since the 19th century, mechanical actions have been used to provide relief and repair injured tissues. However, recent and significant advances in the field of mechanobiology suggest that mechanics can be used far beyond the musculoskeletal system. In fact, it has been shown that mechanics plays a critical role throughout many biological phenomena and diseases. Therefore, mechanical therapies can be conceived to be applied at any scale, from molecules to organs. We want to jumpstart a new field of research to promote a new era of innovative therapies: theramechanics. First, we define this newly coined term, its basic mechanical principles as well as a brief review of some premises of theramechanics. Then, we focus on potential theramechanics in the field of bone mechanobiology and cancerogenesis. To do so, we provide the tools to build computational models enabling us to perform in silico multidisciplinary trials and conceive personalized theramechanics. We strongly believe that theramechanics will provide impressive results turning upside down the old therapy model and becoming the new clinical paradigm.