Dynamic shoulder orthosis with rehabilitating adduction

摘要

A shoulder orthosis for long term support of a patient's arm in postoperative shoulder immobilization posture for rotator cuff tears, comprising a waist belt, an arm splint, and a piston and cylinder assembly interconnecting the waist belt to the splint and biasing the splint to an abduction upper limit position. The orthosis provides stable support of the forearm about a horizontal plane, while enabling both pivotal movement of the arm about a vertical axis intersecting the patient's elbow and towards or away from the patient's torso within this horizontal plane. This orthosis also enables cyclical up and down motion of the splint, the downward motion being healthy adductor-assisted against the bias of the piston and cylinder assembly. A lock system releasably locks the piston and cylinder at a selected retracted position of the piston rod.

主权项

1. Shoulder orthosis for long term support of a patient's arm in postoperative shoulder immobilization abduction posture for injured rotator cuff muscle tear, said orthosis comprising:
a) a waist belt member, releasably adjustably attachable to the patient's waist line; b) an arm splint, defining opposite outer and inner end portions, and releasably adjustably attachable to the patient's arm; c) an extendible connector member, spacedly interconnecting a support section of said belt member to said splint inner end portion and defining a lengthwise axis thereof, wherein said splint is movable in translation between a fully extended abduction first limit condition and a retracted adduction second limit condition, angularly relative to the patient's torso; d) a damper means for cooperating with said connector member in biasing said splint away from said belt member, wherein said damper means enables cyclical back and forth extension/retraction of said extendible connector member between said first and second limit conditions thereof; e) a locking means for releasably locking said extendible connector member at a selected condition thereof against the biasing force of said damper means; and f) a splint swing motion compensating means for providing transverse play of said connector member transversely of said lengthwise axis thereof, to accommodate inward rotation of the patient's arm naturally induced as the patient's arm is raised away from the patient's torso;wherein said orthosis enables cyclical exercising of the patient's arm healthy adductor muscles while minimising contraction of the injured muscles in the rotator cuff.