Unitary anchor for soft tissue fixation

A suture anchor having distal and proximal ends and configured to attaching suture in a bone tunnel having a predetermined longitudinal depth and a predetermined diameter, said suture anchor comprising:

• a continuous resiliently flexible wire-like member bent to form at least one complete suture-retaining loop at said distal end and first and second diverging legs extending proximally from said loop in a common plane, said loop having a diameter smaller than said predetermined diameter, said first and second legs having pointed ends defining said proximal end of said anchor, said legs when unstressed being spaced by a distance greater than the predetermined diameter of said bone tunnel, said legs being resiliently compressible in said common plane toward one another to an extent sufficient to permit selective reduction of the transverse spacing between said pointed ends to less than said predetermined diameter, said anchor being adapted for distally directed insertion into said bone tunnel with said loop preceding said legs and said legs compressed toward one another in said common plane, and wherein the overall length of said anchor from said distal end to said proximal end is less than said predetermined longitudinal depth of said bone tunnel;
• wherein the location of closest transverse spacing between said legs is adjacent said loop and defines an engagement neck adapted to be engaged and compressed between closeable concave jaws of an insertion tool.

A method for inserting a suture anchor into a bone tunnel comprising the steps of:

• (a) engaging and resiliently compressing together a pair of diverging legs of said anchor;
• (b) inserting suture into a suture-retaining section of said anchor disposed between said diverging legs;
• (c) inserting the engaged anchor, suture-retaining section first, into the bone tunnel with the anchor legs diverging from said suture-retaining section and with pointed ends of said anchor legs transversely spaced by a distance smaller than the diameter of the bone tunnel;
• and
• (d) after positioning the engaged anchor in the bone tunnel, releasing said anchor to permit said anchor legs to resiliently return toward an unconstrained spread position wherein said pointed ends are spaced by a distance greater than the diameter of the bone tunnel to thereby cause said pointed ends to penetrate the wall of said bone tunnel.