Splinting
Custom made by a Registered Occupational Therapist, your splint will be made during your appointment.
Custom designed splints are prepared by making a pattern from your body part i.e.: hand. This results in a perfect fit which is crucial for comfort. Molding the splint to your shape will provide maximal benefit from the splint. Splints are used to treat such conditions as carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, foot drop syndrome and others. We also have a variety of non-custom orthopedic products such as carpal tunnel splints and back braces.
The following is helpful information when considering the use of splints.
What is a splint?
Also referred to as an orthoses, it is a device applied to the body to stabilize or immobilize, prevent or correct deformity, protect against injury, promote healing or assist function. Orthoses are designed to promote function when it is compromised by acute injury, cumulative trauma, disease, surgical intervention, congenital anomaly, or degenerative changes. The device may be required for short-term use, as in a post-surgical application; for an extended period, such as during the regeneration of a peripheral nerve; or on an intermittent but ongoing basis for a chronic condition such as rheumatoid arthritis.
What are the Objectives of the splint?
The objectives of the orthotic intervention are to protect, correct, and assist. Orthoses protect against forces that cause pain, injury, or deformity or stresses that interfere with healing. They assist weak, paralyzed, or spastic muscles to promote functional use of the limb, and they correct deformity. In doing so, most orthoses affect joint mobility, as explained below.
Protective orthoses
o Immobilize the joint, preventing any motion and promoting optional joint alignment
o Block the motion at a certain point, restricting the permitted range of the joint
o Prevent deformity by maintaining joint mobility
o Stabilize an unstable joint or tendon or a fractured bone
o Protect vulnerable or healing structures (e.g., bone, joint, tnedon, blood vesssel, nerve, skin) to promote healing, prevent (re) injury, and prevent subluxation of joints or tendons
o Exert traction forces on a joint with damaged cartilage while permitting joint motion
o Continuously move the joint through a flexion-extension arc of movement
Corrective orthoses
o Correct joint contracture
o Correct subluxation of joints or tendons
Assistive devices
o Assist movement of joints during functional activities when muscles are weak or paralyzed
o Reduce muscle tone of spastic muscles to promote joint mobility
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