3-D Printed Finger Splint
Season ending injury?
I tore a ligament in my finger as a competitive soccer goalkeeper. I’ve done it four times to be exact. I took off my glove and my fingertip was crooked. I went to an Orthopedic surgeon and got an x-ray of my finger. I tore the ligament that keeps my finger straight, Mallet Finger is what they call it. It happens to baseball players a lot. It would be 8-10 weeks in a splint. They told me to buy a splint from CVS. I found after some research, that my specific type of tear didn’t require such a bulky splint, so I set out to make the most minimal, low-profile splint I could. This turned into, could I make a strong enough splint that I could comfortably wear in my glove?
The ligament tear is between uppermost joint.
1cm spaced dots for sizing in CAD
The traditional splint.
Bulky and metal. Comfortable, but overkill for fingertip injuries. Cannot be worn in a glove. A baseball player wouldn’t be able to wear this in their glove, at least not without it affecting their performance.
Prototyping
As I began to finalize the form I sketched up ideas on how I could add ventilation and other improvements. I came up with slots on the side for ventilation, and a soft plastic base. The base needs to have an opening on the sides to fit the webbing between fingers.
This splint is designed for my left pinky. It has lasted three years of abuse in goal, stopping shots and sometimes making contact on the ground with players feet as they kick.
These models were kept attached to their 3D-printed support material to show off the unique process.
What’s next?
Bringing it to the market
Grasshopper/Rhino
While I don’t want to show you the formula. I have created an algorithm in Grasshopper to allow me to make these for others without having them send me pictures of their hands all the time. It just requires a few simple measurements.