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US 2012/0071803 A1Published application
Posterior Cruciate Ligament Support Brace
AssigneeSteadman Philippon Research Institute
InventorKyle Jansson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This disclosure describes systems, methods, and apparatus for a knee brace providing a dynamic resistance or anterior force to a shank of a leg in order to replicate PCL forces of a healthy PCL. A dynamic force dependent upon knee flexion angle provides faster and safer PCL injury healing since the dynamic force better replicates the forces that a healthy PCL would exert on the tibia and femur.
Claims28
An apparatus for bracing a knee, comprising:
- a first portion configured to engage with a first region of a leg;
- a second portion configured to engage with a second region of the leg;
- a coupling element configured to couple the first portion to the second portion such that the second portion can rotate about an axis and rotate relative to the first portion as a flexion angle changes, wherein the coupling element resists flexion with an anterior force on the posterior of the second region of the leg, wherein the anterior force is nonlinearly related to the flexion angle.
A method of bracing a knee comprising:
- providing a first torque, on a posterior of a leg's shank, when a first knee flexion angle is 0°;
- providing a second torque, greater than the first torque, on the posterior of the leg's shank, when a second knee flexion angle is between 0° and 105°;
- and
- providing a third torque, less than the second torque, on the posterior of the leg's shank, when a third knee flexion angle is greater than 105°.
1 more element
A method of bracing a knee comprising:
- providing a first anterior force on a posterior location of a shank when a knee is at a flexion angle of 0°;
- providing a second anterior force on the posterior of the shank when the knee is at a second flexion angle between 0° and 30°, wherein the second anterior force is less than the first anterior force;
- providing a third anterior force on the posterior of the shank when the knee is at a third flexion angle between the second flexion angle and 110°, wherein the third anterior force is greater than the first anterior force;
- and
- providing a fourth anterior force on a posterior of the shank when the knee is at a fourth flexion angle greater than the third flexion angle, wherein the fourth anterior force is less than the third anterior force.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.