Methods and apparatus for mid-flexion balancing during knee arthroplasty
AssigneeKnimble Designs, Inc.
InventorsRichard David Komistek, Thomas Jefferson Blumenfeld, Derek F. Amanatullah, Michael LaCour
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Abstract
Joint balancing methods and apparatus for arthroplasty procedures are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a knee arthroplasty set of guides comprising: (a) a femoral guide configured to mount to a distal femur, and (b) a tibial guide configured to mount to a proximal tibia, where the femoral guide and the tibial guide are configured to engage one another and lock in an angle between a longitudinal axis of the distal femur and a longitudinal axis of the proximal tibia of 30-70 degrees.
Claims22
-62. (canceled)
A gap tensioner for a balancing jig for a joint arthroplasty procedure, the gap tensioner comprising:
- a first engagement element configured to operatively couple to a first paddle of a balancing assembly, the first paddle sized to extend under only a first condyle of a dual condyle bone;
- a second engagement element configured to operatively couple to a second paddle of the balancing assembly, the second paddle sized to extend under only the first condyle;
- an actuator configured to change a spacing between the first engagement element and the second engagement element and correspondingly change a spacing between the first paddle and the second paddle;
- and
- a bone pin guide operatively coupled to an engagement guide and being repositionable with respect to the engagement guide;
- wherein the first paddle and the second paddle are configured to be placed between bones of a joint;
- and
- wherein the balancing assembly is configured so that at least one of the first engagement element and the second engagement element is movable along the engagement guide to allow the first paddle and the second paddle to span a gap between the bones of the joint.
-78 (canceled)
A gap tensioner for a balancing jig for a joint arthroplasty procedure, the gap tensioner comprising:
- a first paddle sized to extend under only a first condyle of a dual condyle bone;
- a second paddle sized to extend under only the first condyle, wherein at least one of the first paddle and the second paddle is vertically repositionable along a motion guide;
- and
- an actuator configured to change the spacing between the first paddle and the second paddle by allowing parallel repositioning of the first paddle with respect to the second paddle along the motion guide, the actuator including a handsfree lock to fix the spacing between the first paddle and the second paddle among a plurality of spacings;
- wherein the first paddle and the second paddle are configured to be placed between bones of a joint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.