3D printed casts are gaining considerable momentum, thanks to their many advantages – being waterproof, the range of designs possible, the ventilation, the light weight and an ergonomic fit made for the individual.
Lately we are seeing more and more companies entering the field and developing dedicated software for designing casts for different parts of the body.
Six million people break a bone every year in the United States alone. Many of those injuries are covered in a heavy plaster or fibreglass cast while they heal – a treatment that has been the same for generations. In the end, though, technology changes the rules.
A 3D printed cast has an open lattice design made to fit each patient. It is waterproof, more comfortable, and may even help bones heal and knit faster. This work is part of a wider movement towards 3D printed medical devices.
We are currently working with several hospitals to validate a more modern process, better fitted to the patient.
A traditional cast is built around the limb and closes it in completely. A 3D printed cast is built from a scan file of the limb itself, so a lattice can be opened up wherever there is no need for structural support. The result is a structure that holds the bone with the same rigidity but weighs less, ventilates, and can get wet.
A printed cast is a medical device, and producing one is subject to medical judgement and to regulation. We work in this field with doctors and medical designers, and for producing a component that goes into a regulated medical device we work through certified partners. See 3D printing in medicine.
Send us a file or a description of the problem and you will get a recommendation on technology, material and timescale – talk to an engineer. See also product design and development and 3D printing production.
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