APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR INDEPENDENTLY CONDITIONING AND PRE-TENSIONING A PLURALITY OF LIGAMENT GRAFTS DURING JOINT REPAIR SURGERY

摘要

Apparatus and methods for conditioning and pre-tensioning soft tissue grafts during joint repair surgery. The inventive apparatus (10) is configured so as to enable a surgeon to independently apply a desired tensile load onto individual strands of a multiple-stranded soft tissue graft. The inventive methods ensure that each strand of a multiple-strand soft tissue graft is adequately tensioned so as to both "condition" the graft to prevent subsequent stretching, relaxation or elongation following surgery, and pre-tension each strand of the graft to a desired amount so that each contributes to the strength and stability of the joint. The inventive tensioning device is equipped with structure (72) for attaching the device to a patient's limb during the procedure. It has multiple adjustable tension applicators (22) that can be independently manipulated so as to independently apply a desired tensile load onto one or more strands of the soft tissue graft.