Spine contour gauge and method
OwnerMichael V. Hallidayinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A device and methods for quantitatively measuring spinal contours and flexibility are provided. The device includes a plurality of substantially parallel coplanar shafts slidable within a guide block. One end of each shaft lies within a chamber which may be pressurized, thereby urging the opposite ends of the shafts to gently deploy against a patient's spine. The shafts may be locked in position with a keeper strip. The relative positions of the shafts may be quantified, and these quantified positions may be processed according to methods of the present invention to obtain reliable quantitative summaries of the curvature and flexibility of selected spinal contours.
Claims36
A spine contour gauge, comprising:
- a guide block having a plurality of parallel coplanar bores;
- a frame secured to the guide block, the frame and the guide block substantially defining a chamber;
- a plurality of substantially parallel coplanar shafts, each shaft having an internal end disposed within the chamber, a body disposed within a bore of the guide block for movement relative to the block, and an external end disposed outside the chamber;
- and
- a pressurized gas source in fluid communication with the chamber capable of pressurizing the chamber to an actuating gas pressure in the range from about five to about 100 kilopascals (about one to about 15 p.s.i.) above atmospheric pressure.
A spine contour gauge, comprising:
- a guide block having a plurality of parallel coplanar bores, a portion of the guide block about each bore comprising a synthetic resin;
- a frame secured to the guide block and including a transparent side, the frame and the guide block substantially defining a chamber;
- a plurality of substantially parallel coplanar shafts, each shaft having an internal end disposed within the chamber, a body disposed within a bore of the guide block, and an external end disposed outside the chamber, the body of each shaft comprising aluminum;
- and
- a pressurized inert gas source in fluid communication with the chamber.
A method for quantitatively summarizing selected contours of a patient's spine, comprising the steps of:
- positioning a spine contour gauge near the patient's spine, the spine contour gauge comprising a plurality of substantially parallel coplanar shafts mounted in a guide block for movement from a retracted position to a deployed position in which one end of the shafts contact the patient along the patient's spine, the spine contour gauge further comprising positioning indicia for quantifying the position of each shaft relative to the other shafts;
- deploying the shafts such that one end of each shaft contacts the patient along the patient's spine;
- reading the positioning indicia of a predetermined set of shafts to obtain quantified shaft positions;
- and
- processing the quantified shaft positions to obtain a quantitative summary of a selected contour of the patient's spine, said processing step comprising at least one step selected from the group consisting of:
- computing curvature for a selected spinal contour by calculating the reciprocal of the average radius of the curve defined by the selected spinal contour;
- computing the ratio of a height to a length for a selected spinal contour, wherein the height is measured from the apex of the selected spinal contour to a tangent line passing through the ends of the selected spinal contour, and wherein the length is the distance along the tangent line between the ends of the selected spinal contour;
- and
- fitting the quantified shaft positions to a polynomial curve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.