Soft Brace Tensile Elements for ACL Injury Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current prophylactic knee braces for preventing ACL injuries are uncomfortable, restrictive, and ineffective in high-risk sports activities due to poor resistance against impulsive and multi-planar loading, leading to increased fatigue and lowered athletic performance.
Innovation Solution
A soft brace with customizable tensile elements and anchors that provide resistance against excessive joint motion, using adjustable mechanisms and guiding systems to maintain orientation and distribute force, allowing normal movement while preventing injury.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If traditional rigid prophylactic knee braces are used, then joint stability is improved, but comfort and athletic performance deteriorate due to restriction and fatigue
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies this principle by replacing rigid braces with a soft brace constructed from flexible textile materials. The soft brace includes a garment portion made of flexible fabric that can deform with joint motion while providing protective constraint. This flexible construction allows the brace to accommodate natural athletic movements without causing the restriction and fatigue associated with rigid braces, thereby maintaining joint stability while improving comfort and athletic performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies this principle by making the brace properties adjustable through parameters such as tension, compression, and flexibility. The brace includes adjustable mechanisms that allow users to modify the tightness and support level according to their specific needs and activity level. This adjustability enables optimization of the balance between joint stability and athletic performance for different users and situations.
2Reliability
If traditional rigid braces provide resistance against joint motion, then injury prevention is improved, but athletic performance deteriorates due to lowered mobility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies this principle by designing a dynamic soft brace that adapts its constraint level based on joint motion. The flexible textile construction allows the brace to provide resistance against excessive or harmful joint motion while allowing normal athletic movements to proceed freely. The brace dynamically adjusts its protective effect based on the intensity and direction of applied forces, maintaining injury prevention without compromising athletic performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies this principle by providing targeted protection at specific high-risk areas of the joint rather than uniformly restricting all motion. The soft brace is designed with localized support elements and tensioning zones that specifically protect against common injury mechanisms (such as valgus stress on the knee) while preserving mobility in other directions. This localized approach maintains athletic performance by allowing necessary movement freedom while preventing injuries.
3Ease of operation
If soft brace with tensile elements is used, then comfort and athletic performance are improved, but resistance against impulsive loading may be insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies this principle by constructing the soft brace from composite textile structures that combine different material properties. The garment portion uses multi-layer textile constructions where some layers provide flexibility and comfort while other layers provide tensile strength and resistance against impulsive loading. This composite material approach enables the soft brace to simultaneously achieve comfort for athletic performance and sufficient strength to resist sudden forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies this principle by pre-tensioning the tensile elements and pre-configuring the brace geometry to provide immediate resistance against impulsive loading. The brace is designed with pre-loaded springs, pre-tensioned cables, or pre-configured textile tensions that activate automatically when sudden forces are applied, providing preliminary resistance before the full impact occurs. This preliminary action mechanism ensures that the soft brace can effectively resist impulsive loading despite its flexible construction.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The soft brace effectively reduces the risk of ACL injuries by providing targeted protection without compromising athletic performance, through customizable resistance and dynamic joint protection.
Implementation Method 1
one or more tensile elements configured to limit motion of one or more target joints based on placement of the one or more tensile elements relative to the one or more target joints such that the placement of the one or more tensile elements and a tension of each of the one or more tensile elements provides resistance against motion of the one or more target joints
Implementation Method 2
One or more soft tissue anchors can be positioned on a body around the one or more target joints. The one or more anchors are configured to anchor one or more of the one or more tensile elements to the body to provide force distribution relative to the one or more target joints
Data Source
AI summary
A soft brace to prevent injury to one or more target joints or body segments is disclosed. The soft brace includes one or more tensile elements configured to limit motion of one or more target joints based on placement of the one or more tensile elements relative to the one or more target joints such that the placement and tension of each of the one or more tensile elements provides resistance against motion of the one or more target joints; one or more soft tissue anchors positioned on a body around the one or more target joints, the one or more anchors being configured to anchor one or more of the one or more tensile elements to the body to provide force distribution relative to the one or more target joints; and wherein at least one of the one or more tensile elements is routed in parallel with the approximate center of rotation of at least one of the one or more target joints.