Spherical joint orthosis
AssigneeTamarack Habilitation Technologies, Inc.
InventorJ. Martin Carlson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An orthosis that provides hinging action between two shell parts that are on opposite sides of a skeletal joint of a limb is provided with joint components on the medial and lateral sides of the skeletal joint. A spherical bearing connection between two parts of each of the joint components is used. The spherical connection is such that the pivot axes of the medial and lateral joint component do not have to be precisely coaxial when hinging due to the accommodation by the spherical bearing. Also, in fabricating an orthosis, a dummy joint component is used in the molding process, or, for metal frame fabrication and repair, the joint is plugged in neutral alignment during the fabrication process.
Claims10
A joint component for an orthosis assembly for providing skeletal joint control of a limb, comprising:
- medial and lateral joint components for joining first and second orthotic sections forming the orthosis assembly, said medial and lateral joint components each having first and second parts hinged together, the first part of each of the joint components being attachable to the first orthotic section, and the second part of each joint component being attachable to the second orthotic section, the first and second parts of each of the joint components being connected through a spherical pivot that permits hinging along a first axis lying between the lateral and medial joint components, and being free for simultaneous pivoting about axes perpendicular to the first axis when attached to the first and second orthotic sections, the first part at least one joint component having a housing portion offset from the first axis, a screw threaded through a bore in the housing portion having an end extendable out of the housing portion and positioned to engage the second hinge part to adjustably stop pivoting of the hinge parts.
A joint component for joining first and second orthotic sections, said joint component having first and second parts hinged together about a first axis, the first part having a portion attachable to a first orthotic section, and the second part having a portion attachable to a second orthotic section to join the orthotic sections for hinging movement, the first and second parts being connected through a spherical pivot that permits free hinging a selected amount about the first axis and that also permits free pivoting of the first and second parts about axes transverse to the first axis during use when the first and second parts are joined to the first and second orthotic sections, the first part comprising a tongue, the spherical pivot comprising a bearing race in the tongue for seating a spherical bearing and a spherical bearing mounted in the bearing race, the spherical bearing having a part spherical outer surface with a central bore, the second part having a clevis with side members that overlap the bore, and a pivot pin extending through the side members and the bore to pivotally mount the first and second parts of the joint component together.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.