Gadsden, Ala.-based Northeast Orthopedics is adapting 3D-printed removable plastic casts for orthopedic patients, reports WBRC.
Four insights:
1. New startup company ActivArmor develops the casts, which are customized for each patient.
2. The plastic is the same used in Lego blocks, according to Diana Hall, president of ActivArmor.
3. The webbed features are designed to guard against bacteria sticking to the skin and prevent itchiness that is common with traditional casts.
4. Northeast Orthopedics will begin fitting patients with the casts next week.
"It will also help a lot with our athletes, to get them into something like this, and allow them to return back to the football field, and be able to get the cast dirty, and take it off and wash it, as opposed to the traditional cast," said Bruce Douthit, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and partner at Northeast Orthopedics.