DYNAMIC SHOULDER ORTHOSIS WITH REHABILITATING ADDUCTION

摘要

A shoulder orthosis for long term support of a patient's arm in postoperativeshoulderimmobilization posture for rotator cuff tears, comprising a waist belt, an armsplint, and a pistonand cylinder assembly interconnecting the waist belt to the splint and biasingthe splint to anabduction upper limit position. The orthosis provides stable support of theforearm about ahorizontal plane, while enabling both pivotal movement of the arm about avertical axisintersecting the patient's elbow and towards or away from the patient's torsowithin thishorizontal plane. This orthosis also enables cyclical up and down motion ofthe splint, thedownward motion being healthy adductor- assisted against the bias of thepiston and cylinderassembly. A lock system releasably locks the piston and cylinder at a selectedretracted position ofthe piston rod.