Artificial vertebrae, artificial spines made thereof, and related methods

Abstract

An artificial vertebra includes a body of rigid material. The body includes a disc-contact surface shaped to contact an artificial intervertebral disc and an instrumentation surface shaped to receive a sensor. A biofidelic instrumented spine, such as an artificial lumbar spine, includes a series of such rigid artificial vertebrae arranged in a column with resilient artificial intervertebral discs positioned between the rigid artificial vertebrae. Artificial ligaments may be attached to the artificial vertebrae. A sensor, such as a strain gauge or pressure mapping sensor, may be positioned at a rigid artificial vertebra or at multiple rigid artificial vertebrae to measure an internal loading.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.