Design of a wrist orthosis prototype from a 3D arm model using 3D printing

LUCAS PEDRO ACOSTA; ANA BELEN ZAMORA; FERNANDO DANIEL FARFÁN

San Juan

Congreso; XXIII Congreso Argentino de Bioingeniería y XII Jornadas de Ingeniería Clínica; 2022

Sociedad Argentina de Bioingeniería

The development of devices to immobilize injured upper limbs encompasses various technologies and methodologies, from splinting and casting, to configurable composite orthoses. Through the application of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools, we seek to design an immobilizing wrist orthosis model to reduce or eliminate rejections by the patient and the need to adjust the immobilizing device by the patient of the orthopedist. An idealized 3D forearm model was used for the design of a thin orthosis adapted to the particularities of the model used. The model was subjected to a FEM study to determine the distribution of stresses and strains in its geometric configuration. The prototype of the device was built in 3D printing. It could be seen that the majority values of stresses were concentrated in a small region in the opening of the fixing, whose value for the bending movement was 173.16 MPa, while for the extension it was 111.72 MPa, both concentrated in the central openwork on the outer side. Total displacements were the majority at the distal end of the orthosis, with values of 3.69mm for flexion and 2.38mm for extension.