Posted on 07/06/2013 6:58:52 AM PDT by jmcenanly
About 6 million people break their bones each year, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. But after fracturing his arm, one industrial design graduate used a 3-D printer to produce n exoskeletal brace. The result is an innovative concept for fixing broken bones that, if nothing else, has presented an interesting case for rethinking the plaster cast.
Victoria University graduate Jake Evill created the brace prototype with a homemade 3-D printer and nylon plastic.
In an interview with Wired magazine, Evill said the inspiration for his Cortex design came from the trabecular, a structure that forms the inner tissue of a bone.
(Excerpt) Read more at medcitynews.com ...
Definitely a step forward!
I can’t wait until the inventor graduates and receives his medical license. Way to go Dr. Evill.
I do not understand the Headline writers choice of words. How is a new support/brace ‘disruptive’????
That was my thought too when I saw the guy’s name!
It is a phrase that means innovative. I know... it is confusing.
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/68462
No. It is printed as a bivalve.
This is disruptive because it cuts into the AMA monpoly on expensive plaster. Go to the pharmacy, put your ACE-sleeved arm into the scanner, and come back in an hour to get your thin shell two part cast.
Brilliant.
a very expensive alternative to a plaster cast ...and the rapid-protype material will probably have issues with water, uv-radiation (sunlight) ...
over a two-month period ...
All true, Patton@Bastogne, and there are probably additional problems, but that's the nature of bright new ideas: they take awhile to develop. I'm sure the weight savings aloneonce the numerous and various bugs have been worked outwould more than justify the expense and bother.
I’m starting to equate 3-D printing with making the steam engine or electricity available to mankind.
New applications seem to appear daily, and right now, IMO, the sky is the limit.
Save us from the supposedly smart MBAs. This is one of the most ridiculous pairings in the english language. Talk about an oxymoron. And to what purpose other than to show just how ‘smart’ you are. Tell these yahoos who make up this crap to cut it out already
Sorry not your fault but I hate stupidity that is so obvious
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