Importance

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Abstract

An improved knee brace hinge, per se, and as a part of external bracing apparatus for controlling the degree of motion permitted by a wearer's knee and including first and second pairs of elongate relatively stiff braces that resist torsion and bending loads and adapted to lie on opposite sides of the wearer's thigh and calf; harness, with or without flexible sheets, for adjustably placing and holding the respective pairs of elongate braces in a desired obtained position on respective opposite sides of the thigh and calf of the wearer with a hinge positioned correctly adjacent the wearer's knee. The improved hinge is connected with the central ends of the respective braces on each side of the wearer's knee and each hinge employs a single cam-slot operator for simulating flexural motion of a wearer's knee and a positive lock for limiting the range of the flexural motion. The hinge has a shaft contained in a mating aperture and slidably contained within a slot for allowing the flexural motion simulating that of the wearer's knee. Specific preferred structural embodiments of the improved knee brace hinge are disclosed, including flexible plungers for limiting the movement of the cam in the slot together with indicators and respective indices for accurately presetting the movement desired to be allowed.

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First Claim