Other

Brad Story

E Marlowe Goble

Alan Chervitz

David P Luman

Tim Simon

An anterior cruciate ligament or soft tissue tensioning and knee displacement measuring device and method for its use to apply a tensile stress into a repaired or replaced graft and to maintain tension on that graft while an interference screw, or like fastener, is turned into a tunnel section end, containing the graft or sutures connected to the graft, wedging it against the tunnel wall, and, during application of the tensile stress, for determining the distance that the knee is displaced. The invention includes a tensioning device having, as a body, a pair of straight rails with a cross member secured across the rails rear or distal ends with forward or proximal rail ends connected to mounting tubes that are for fitting into pins as have been mounted into to extend from a bone cortex, alongside the tunnel section end, and including a trolley maintained to travel between the body rails. The trolley includes a mount arranged to receive and maintain sutures that extend out from the tunnel end, with trolley movement provided by turning a connected rod turned through the cross member to impart a tensile force into the ligament graft, with the amount of the applied force measured by a slide indicator arranged with the trolley. Additionally, the invention includes the knee displacement measuring device for measuring displacement during application of a tensile stress to sutures attached to the ligament graft.

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Smithfield, UT, United States of America

Brad Story