Custom splints
Custom splint design. Research work carried out at the UNMdP in a period of three years.
Custom splint design. Research work carried out at the UNMdP in a period of three years.
During the first year, work was done on the possibility of generating personalized hand splints. In a first stage designed for manufacturing by laser cutting (unfolded morphology) and in a later stage, by 3D printing.
In the second and third year, work was done with foot orthoses, extracting its geometry from the digital processing of medical images through the Mimics Medical program. This geometry was then used as the basis for the projection of the different leaflets generated.
When the orthoses worked in the second year (made by Grasshopper) were applied, it was possible to see the inconvenience of copying the details of the foot on the orthosis. This meant a problem since the fold of the fingers in the 3D printed orthosis would generate great discomfort in its use.
For this reason, in the third year of research, a sculpture program was used: MeshMixer to flatten the surface.
By having the possibility of importing the geometry extracted from the tomography (also being personalized), work continued on it to analyze the advantages and disadvantages it had with respect to Grasshopper and define which of the two software was the most convenient to carry out the orthoses. Although it was possible to generate it, by doing it in a much more manual way, there was no possibility of adding measurements or manufacturing parameters. In addition, being a program with fewer tools, it did not allow the generation of as many patterns or making material focal points in them as Grasshopper does, so it was decided to make joint use of the software and export the geometry of the foot. no folds from MeshMixer to Grasshopper for further brace construction.
In this last stage, he focused on the realization of a single orthosis with modifiable parameters, including specific subtractions. These subtractions, in addition to increasing air circulation, would allow the incorporation of electrodes to carry out electro-stimulation therapies and prevent the immobilized muscle from suffering atrophy during treatment and rehabilitation.
