The concept would be ready-to-fit directly off of the 3D printer, with built-in fasteners added for the final enclosure.
The only thing worse than breaking a bone is waiting for it to heal. During the healing process itself, wearing a fiberglass and plaster cast can be a stinky, itchy endeavor that is uncomfortable and inconvenient; all for an injury that is completely internal. Enter Jake Evill’s Cortex concept. Beyond having an awesome last name, Jake Evill, a media design graduate of the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, has managed to modernize the ancient concept of a splint using 3D printing technology.
Utilizing X-ray technology, paired with 3D printing and scanning, the Cortex exoskeletal cast provides a fully-ventilated structure to heal broken bones. The system uses the scanning technologies to provide a “trauma zone localized” support structure. This scanning technique, combined with a software system, would create the optimum bespoke structure that allows denser support to be focused around the fracture.
The structure would then be 3D printed, providing an ultra-light, recyclable, and (probably most importantly) shower-friendly cast. Though a plaster or fiberglass cast would take tens of minutes to create and a 3D-printed cast of this caliber would take a few hours to print, the customization, convenience, and intuitive flexibility of Evill’s design can’t be denied.
The concept would be ready-to-fit directly off of the 3D printer, with built-in fasteners added for the final enclosure. These fasteners would then be removed by a special tool when healing is complete.
