Spinal distraction tool for load and position measurement

摘要

A spine alignment system is provided to assess load forces on the vertebra in conjunction with overall spinal alignment. The system includes a spine instrument having an electronic assembly and a sensorized head. The sensorized head can be inserted between vertebra and report vertebral conditions such as force, pressure, orientation and edge loading. A GUI is therewith provided to show where the spine instrument is positioned relative to vertebral bodies as the instrument is placed in the inter-vetebral space. The system can distract vertebrae to a first height and measure the load applied by the spine region. The GUI can indicate that the load is outside a predetermined range. The spine region can be distracted to a second height where the load is measured within the predetermined load range.

主权项

1. A method of distracting a spinal region comprising the steps of:
inserting a sensored head of a spinal instrument into a spinal region; electronically measuring at least one of the orientation, rotation, angle, or position of the sensor head with respect to a reference position not on the spinal instrument; positioning the sensored head until the position of a load magnitude on the sensored head as electronically measured by the sensored head is within a predetermined positional range; and distracting the spinal region to a height where an electrical measurement of the load magnitude by the sensored head of the spinal instrument is within a predetermined load range.