Adjustable Animal Splint with Angular Joints and Foot Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing animal splints are not adjustable to fit different angles between the upper and lower legs of four-legged animals, lack support for the back and sides of the injured leg, and do not provide adequate foot/paw support, leading to poor fit and effectiveness in immobilization.
Innovation Solution
An adjustable animal splint with angularly adjustable lower and upper leg assemblies, a leg retaining system, and integral foot support, allowing for customizable fit to the animal's leg by adjusting the angle between the assemblies and securing the splint with straps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rigid, non-flexible splint material is used to prevent movement of the injured leg, then the immobilization effectiveness is improved, but the ability of the underlying bandage to breathe and the ability of the doctor to view the wound or bandage deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The splint incorporates a porous outer layer that allows air permeability for bandage breathing and visual transparency for wound observation, while maintaining structural rigidity for effective immobilization. This resolves the contradiction by enabling both immobilization effectiveness and breathability/visibility simultaneously.
2Ease of manufacture
If a one-piece construction splint is used to simplify the structure, then the ease of manufacture is improved, but the adjustability to fit different animals and angles deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The splint is divided into multiple modular components including adjustable angular joints and segmented sections that can be configured to match different leg shapes and sizes. This segmentation enables customization for various animals while maintaining relatively simple manufacturing of individual standardized parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The splint incorporates dynamic adjustment mechanisms such as angularly adjustable joints between segments, allowing the structure to adapt to different angles between upper and lower legs of four-legged animals. This enables versatility without requiring completely different splints for each case.
3Manufacturing precision
If a narrowly tailored splint is constructed to fit a specific animal or size, then the fit accuracy is improved, but the productivity and time consumption deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The splint design uses standardized modular components with universal connection interfaces that can accommodate multiple animal sizes and types through configuration rather than custom fabrication. This enables high fit accuracy across different cases while maintaining productivity through reusable standardized parts.
4Device complexity
If a splint without foot/paw support is used, then the device complexity is reduced, but the reliability of immobilization deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The foot/paw support is merged with the main splint body as an integrated component rather than a separate attachment. This provides comprehensive immobilization including the foot/paw area while avoiding the complexity of separate assembly steps and additional fastening mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
An animal splint for immobilizing a leg of an animal receives the back and sides of the injured leg and is angularly adjustable to the normal angle of the upper and lower part of the injured leg prior to sustaining the leg injury. The splint includes a lower leg assembly, an upper leg assembly, an adjustment member configured for setting the angle between the lower leg assembly and the upper leg assembly, and a leg retaining means that extends across the lower leg open front and the upper leg open front where the lower leg assembly and the upper leg assembly receives the back and sides of the injured leg.