Adjustable halo system orthopedic appliance and method

An orthopedic appliance to be worn by a patient, comprising:

• a patient vest with poster mounting means supported thereon;
• a patient halo ring with a plurality of threaded holes formed in the periphery thereof and a plurality of skull pin screws received respectively in selected of said holes;
• a pair of clamps and corresponding clamp screws, said clamps being respectively rotatably supported on generally opposite lateral sides of said patient halo ring by receipt of the corresponding clamp screw in selected of said patient halo ring threaded holes, and each of said clamps respectively defining a poster receipt therein, which channel is tightened by its respective clamp screw;
• and
• a pair of halo ring support posters, each such poster being supported at a lower end thereof by said poster mounting means and generally at an upper end thereof slidably supported in said poster receipt channel of a respective one of said clamps, so that tightening of a clamp screw simultaneously fixes the selected slidably adjusted position of a support poster relative its corresponding clamp and fixes the selected rotatably adjusted position of such clamp relative said halo ring, so as to readily adjust and secure a selected patient skeletal process alignment simply by tightening of said respective clamp screws.

An orthopedic treatment process for a patient, including use of an adjustable, two poster halo system orthopedic appliance, said process comprising:

• providing a halo ring carrying a plurality of skull pins for attachment thereof to the skull of a patient;
• a vest to be worn by the patient;
• and adjustable two poster alignment means for securing said halo ring when attached to a patient's skull in a desired alignment in multiple axes relative said vest when worn by the patient, said adjustable alignment means including a pair of support rods and four respective clamp means, with a first pair of said clamp means associated with said vest for selectively clamping respective lower ends of said support rods with a desired axial relationship between said support rods and said superstructure means, and with a second pair of said clamp means directly associated with said halo ring for selectively clamping respective upper ends of said support rods in a selected slidably adjusted position thereof and for selectively clamping said second pair of clamp means in a rotatably selected position relative said halo ring;
• applying the halo ring and the vest to the patient;
• loosely affixing said first pair of said clamp means relative said vest and said second pair of said clamp means to said halo ring;
• loosely inserting said support rods into said respective clamp means therefor, with said rods in slidably adjustable relationship at least with said second pair of said clamp means;
• aligning the patient's skeletal process in desired orientation;
• and
• thereafter operating said alignment means for securing said halo ring relative said vest by clamping said support rods with all four of said clamp means, so that a therapeutic skeletal process alignment is achieved for the patient with which the appliance is used.

A method of applying an orthopedic halo system to be worn by a patient, said method comprising:

• providing a patient halo ring with a plurality of threaded holes formed in the periphery thereof and securing such ring to the patient's skull using a plurality of skull pin screws received respectively in selected of said threaded holes;
• applying to the patient a patient vest with poster mounting means supported thereon;
• providing a pair of clamps and corresponding clamp screws, and respectively rotatably supporting said clamps on generally opposite lateral sides of said patient halo ring by respective receipt of the corresponding clamp screws in selected of said patient halo ring threaded holes, each of said clamps respectively defining a poster receipt channel for slidable receipt of a support poster therein, which channel can be tightened with tightening of its respective clamp screw;
• and
• providing a pair of halo ring support posters, and loosely supporting each such poster at a lower end thereof by said poster mounting means and generally slidably supporting such poster at an upper end thereof in said poster receipt channel of a respective one of said clamps;
• aligning the patient's skeletal process in a desired orientation;
• and
• securing the respective poster lower ends with said poster mounting means, and tightening said clamp screws so as to simultaneously fix the selected slidably adjusted position of each support poster relative its corresponding clamp and fix the selected rotatably adjusted position of each clamp relative said halo ring, so as to readily adjust and secure a selected patient skeletal process alignment simply by securing said poster mounting means and tightening said respective clamp screws.