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Session: Poster session II
Session starts: Thursday 24 January, 16:00

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Marit HN van Velzen (Dept. of Medical Information Communication Technology, Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis, ‘s Hertogenbosch)
Merel W Eggenkamp (Dept. of BioMechanical Engineering, faculty 3mE, Delft University of Technology, Delft)
Samantha de Graaf (Dept. of BioMechanical Engineering, faculty 3mE, Delft University of Technology, Delft)
Quinten J Mank (Dept. of BioMechanical Engineering, faculty 3mE, Delft University of Technology, Delft)
Twan Simons (Dept. of BioMechanical Engineering, faculty 3mE, Delft University of Technology, Delft)
Arjo J Loeve (Dept. of BioMechanical Engineering, faculty 3mE, Delft University of Technology, Delft)
Alina G van der Giessen (Dept. of Medical Information Communication Technology, Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis, ‘s Hertogenbosch)

Abstract:
INTRODUCTION Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is amongst the most common upper extremity pathologies. Conventional therapy consists of fitting a wrist splint that prevents wrist flexion-extension. Unfortunately, the most-used splint type quickly gets dirty, while it cannot (easily) be cleaned. Furthermore, these splints completely cover the wrist and large parts of the hand and forearm, causing sweating, itching and skin irritation. Consequently, there is low therapy compliance in patients needing the splint, despite the fact that bracing is such a simple way to effectively and non-invasively heal CTS patients. The aim of the current work was to develop the “Sprint Splint”: a system to easily and rapidly make patient specific wrist splints through 3D printing without the need for time-consuming scans and adjustments, for better therapy compliance. METHODS Splint concepts were made based on functional, design and comfort requirements. The main functional requirement was that backlash of the wrist and finger-joints should not exceed those in conventional splints. Regarding comfort: no pressure points, no skin damage and painless splint donning and doffing. Additionally, the skin had to stay uncovered as much as possible without losing any functionality. Through Harris Profiles and interviews with expert users a final design was selected and tested. RESULTS A flat-printed, base-model splint was set up in FreeCAD-software. The base-model splint consisted of a flat-printable design of the splint, including an adjustable thumb opening and hexagon plane filling structure. To personalize the base-model, a total of 10 easy-to-measure dimensions of the patient’s hand, wrist and forearm are entered in a table linked to the base-model, directly returning a patient specific splint. After 3D printing the splint, it is finalized by molding it around the wrist of the patient. Six volunteers received well-fitting splints based on the workflow described above. CONCLUSION A method comprising a parametrized base-model splint, a dimensions input table and simple 3D printing and molding steps was developed to deliver patient specific 3D printable wrist splints. The method uses 10 easily measurable dimensions for customization. After further improvements, the Sprint Splint may offer a rapidly customizable, comfortable, cleanable and cheap alternative to current CTS splints.