Abstract A spreader bar type orthopedic splint, i.e. with a bar which holds the patient's feet spread apart and at a corrective toed in or toed out angle, in which the bar or feet-spreading member is a flexible, planar body, preferably fabricated of a leaf spring metal, so that the patient can partake of limited exercising movements as permitted by the flexuring of the body out of its plane. It is significant that excluded from the permitted exercising movements is any movement that is rotative about the reference axis used to set the corrective angle of the patient's feet, since such movements would require bending or flexing of the flat body in its own plane, a degree of movement that the body strongly resists despite its flexibility. By excluding this degree of movement, the therapeutic value of the splint is preserved since there is a corresponding preservation of the corrective angle, despite exercising movements of the patient.
Inventors
👤 Leo Zentman
Bibliographic Details
Application Number—
JurisdictionUS
Data Sourcegoogle_patents
Last Synchronized2026-11-08 23:29
CPC Classifications
A; A61; A61F; A61F5/00; A61F5/01; A61F5/0193
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 2
Claim 1
Independent Claim
210 words
In an improved orthopedic splint comprising a pair of shoe-engaging plates for attachment to the shoes of a patient using said splint, spaced apart rotation axis-defining means for rotatably mounting each said shoe-engaging plate preparatory to urging each said shoe-engaging plate through a rotatable traverse about one said cooperating rotation axis incident to fixing said shoe-engaging plates in a selected angular relation to each other, and a flat, normally horizontally disposed planar connecting member of a metallic leaf spring construction material flexible up and down from said horizontal plane and connected in spanning relation between said spaced apart rotation axis-defining means for allowing limited movement of said shoe-engaging plates and the patient's feet only in rocking movement relative to each other up and down from the horizontal plane as limited by the planar member, said rocking movement being permitted by the flexuring of said member up and down out of its normally horizontal plane while preventing any rotative movement about either of said rotation axes of said shoe-engaging plates to retain said plates and the patient's feet in their fixed selected angular relationship to each other so that the patient can partake of exercise movements in the up and down directions, but not rotatively during use of said orthopedic splint.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
210 words
In an improved orthopedic splint comprising a pair of shoe-engaging plates for attachment to the shoes of a patient using said splint, spaced apart rotation axis-defining means for rotatably mounting each said shoe-engaging plate preparatory to urging each said shoe-engaging plate through a rotatable traverse about one said cooperating rotation axis incident to fixing said shoe-engaging plates in a selected angular relation to each other, and a flat, normally horizontally disposed planar connecting member of a metallic leaf spring construction material flexible up and down from said horizontal plane and connected in spanning relation between said spaced apart rotation axis-defining means for allowing limited movement of said shoe-engaging plates and the patient's feet only in rocking movement relative to each other up and down from the horizontal plane as limited by the planar member, said rocking movement being permitted by the flexuring of said member up and down out of its normally horizontal plane while preventing any rotative movement about either of said rotation axes of said shoe-engaging plates to retain said plates and the patient's feet in their fixed selected angular relationship to each other so that the patient can partake of exercise movements in the up and down directions, but not rotatively during use of said orthopedic splint.