US 6,981,957 B2 | ||
Knee brace medial/lateral shift compensation | ||
Steven S. Knecht, Bakersfield, Calif. (US); and Jeffrey H. Townsend, Bakersfield, Calif. (US) | ||
Assigned to Townsend Industries, Inc., Bakersfield, Calif. (US) | ||
Filed on Feb. 27, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/787,763. | ||
Prior Publication US 2005/0192523 A1, Sep. 01, 2005 | ||
Int. Cl. A61F 5/00 (2006.01) |
U.S. Cl. 602—26 | 12 Claims |
1. A knee brace, comprising:
a medial and a lateral side femoral arm;
a medial and a lateral side tibial arm;
a medial side joint mechanism coupling the medial side femoral arm to the medial side tibial arm;
a lateral side joint mechanism coupling the medial side femoral arm to the lateral side tibial arm;
wherein each of said medial side joint mechanism and said lateral side joint mechanism comprise upper and lower hinges, the
lower hinges enabling relative movement between the femoral arms and the tibial arms in posterior-anterior planes and the
upper hinges enabling free relative movement between the femoral arms and the tibial arms in medial-lateral planes; and
wherein at least one of said femoral arms has a length adjustment mechanism; and wherein adjustment of the length of one of
the arms produces a medial-lateral angular movement of at least one or the other of the femoral arms about said upper hinges.
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