Implant Relies on Unique Fastener to Gear Up for Baby Boomer Generation

To keep up with active baby boomers, Skeletal Dynamics, a designer and marketer of innovative orthopedic devices recently developed its Align™ Radial Head System, an artificial elbow joint designed to restore the natural function of the native radial head.

“We aimed to fill a gap in the market by providing the ability to orient the joint to its natural position during surgery, and then locking it in place for the rest of the patient’s life,” says Tom Norman, Vice President of Engineering at Miami-based Skeletal Dynamics. “We considered traditional fastener thread forms, but lacked confidence that they would stay in place for the up to a million load cycles an active patient could subject them to in their lifetime. Instead, we selected an innovative self locking fastener called Spiralock.”

“Going right to the Spiralock self locking fasteners, to address fastener fatigue and loosening, potentially saved us millions of dollars and years of development time,” concludes Norman. “We were happily surprised at the cost of the Spiralock fastener, and are considering its use in other medical applications,” says Norman.

Spiralock self-locking fasteners have been used in extreme fastening applications with virtually no chance of recall: from the main engines of NASA’s Space Shuttle; to the Saturn Cassini orbiter and Titan Huygens probe; to medical implants, artificial limbs, and heart pumps. They are also used in a wide range of applications for the aerospace, transportation, agriculture, HVAC, and oil drilling equipment industries.