Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: impressed

A Better Cast

There's a new high-tech cast for broken bones, made with clever engineering.  Brilliant.  

This makes me wonder if a flexible or semi-flexible version could be used instead of heavy braces for things like wrist support or back support for other complaints.  It ought to work.
Tags: news, science
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  • 3 comments
technoshaman

technoshaman

July 7 2013, 05:59:38 UTC 7 years ago

I've seen *solid* ones used for back braces before. I think they were molded, not printed, but still. I don't see why not.

Oh! I've also seen a printed semi-powered brace set...

This young girl was born with very limited muscle tone in her arms. She basically couldn't lift them. The designed a brace that went across her back and around her arms, from printed plastic, which used - of all things - tuned rubber bands to boost her limited muscle strength. The youngling can now participate with other children in all sorts of things - including fine-motor-skill stuff like drawing - and if the plastic breaks? Mummy (the girl is English) takes a picture of the broken part, they ID which one it is, print her a new one, and it's in tomorrow's post. Brilliant.

So's this - it's so slimline that you should be able to do mostly normal things with it, modulo being reasonable about weight-bearing... and yeah. No smellies or itchies, and I would presume it's waterproof too, so as long as you were careful to get *all* the soap out... or that *will* itch... you can still *shower*...

The one downside: Limited signing space! :D
ysabetwordsmith

Thoughts

ysabetwordsmith

July 7 2013, 20:29:30 UTC 7 years ago

>> I've seen *solid* ones used for back braces before. I think they were molded, not printed, but still. I don't see why not. <<

The perforated design makes it much lighter, thus feasible for people who couldn't handle the weight of a solid brace. Which is already why some people prefer bodices or corsets to standard braces.

>> Oh! I've also seen a printed semi-powered brace set... <<

That's clever.

>> I would presume it's waterproof too <<

It is washable, yes.
starcat_jewel

starcat_jewel

July 11 2013, 18:02:24 UTC 7 years ago

Wow. I wish that had been available when I broke my wrist.

OTOH, I have to admit that the jacket I bought because its sleeves were large enough to accommodate the cast is still getting a lot of use during the cooler parts of the year, because they'll accommodate my arms in a sweater as well.