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US 5,458,565 AGranted
Osteoarthritic knee brace
AssigneeSmith & Nephew Donjoy, Inc.
InventorsTheodore V. Tillinghast, III, Charles A. Bastyr, Richard E. Gildersleeve
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AssigneeSmith & Nephew Donjoy, Inc.
InventorsTheodore V. Tillinghast, III, Charles A. Bastyr, Richard E. Gildersleeve
Estimating the term…
An osteoarthritic knee brace is provided having flexible upper and lower arm members rotatably connected to each other by a rotary hinge assembly. A selectively inflatable or deflatable fluid-containing pad is positionable between the hinge assembly and a side of the knee joint. In operation, the brace is mounted on the leg with the pad engaging both the hinge assembly and the side of the knee joint, the hinge assembly aligned with the knee joint, and the upper and lower arm members aligned with the upper and lower legs, respectively. The upper and lower arm members are stressed away from the knee joint, thereby applying a restoring force to the knee joint across the hinge assembly and the pad that effectively treats the osteoarthritic knee joint. The restoring force is adjustable by selective inflation or deflation of the pad.
An osteoarthritic knee brace positionable on a leg about the knee joint comprising:
An osteoarthritic knee brace positionable on a leg about the knee joint comprising:
An osteoarthritic knee brace positionable on a leg about the knee joint comprising:
A method for stabilizing an osteoarthritic knee comprising mounting a brace on a leg about the knee joint, wherein said brace has a flexible Upper arm positioned above the knee joint and a flexible lower arm positioned below the knee joint and connected to said upper arm that are elastically deflected by the leg in a direction away from the knee joint, thereby continuously applying a spring restoring force to the knee joint on a first side of the leg sufficient to reduce a load on a compartment of the knee joint proximal to a second side of the leg, further wherein said spring restoring force is substantially orthogonal to said load.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.