Orthopedic devices, materials and methods

Method of applying an orthopedic cast to a portion of a human or animal body which comprises:

• (A) heating a flexible bandage material suitable for forming an orthopedic cast, comprising a substrate in the form of a netting, the strands of said netting having on their surfaces a coating comprising a crosslinked copolymer, said crosslinked copolymer being produced by crosslinking a thermoplastic, crosslinkable copolymer which is produced by the process which comprises reacting, at a temperature from 25.degree. to 300.degree. C., an active-hydrogen containing initiator with a molar excess of a monomer mixture comprising:
• (i) from 80 to 99.5 weight percent of at least one lactone of the formula ##STR5## wherein n is an integer having a value from about 3 to 6, at least N+2 of the R's are hydrogen and the remaining R's are each alkyl or 1 to 10 carbon atoms;
• and
• (ii) from 0.5 to 99.5 weight percent of a polyfunctional acrylate monomer
• to a temperature above the softening point of the crosslinked copolymer;
• (B) wrapping the heated bandage material around the body portion in a repetitive manner to form overlying layers of bandage material conforming in shape to the body portion and forming an encasement therefor;
• (C) applying sufficient pressure during and after wrapping to the overlying layers to ensure contact which causes fusion of the overlying layers into a unitary structure encasing the body portion;
• and
• (D) cooling the applied layers of bandage to form a rigid, unitary structure.