A feasibility analysis of a 3D customized upper limb orthosis

Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is considered one of the most advanced and innovative production technologies. Given the possibility to realize tailor-made and complex geometries compared to conventional processes, the medical industry demonstrated a considerable interest towards these topics. In particular, leveraging on AM technologies, orthopedy is the field able to achieve greater benefits, prototyping components characterized by improved design and comfort of use. As a result, to display the benefits of the AM technologies deployment in clinical practice, the present work was developed, proposing an alternative procedure to manufacture customized upper limb orthosis via 3D printing. The suggested methodology involved a fast and accurate 3D scanning of the hand-wrist-arm district to obtain the surface anatomy of the patient. A Graphical User Interface (GUI), integrating a series of semi-automatic commands to model the medical device starting from the 3D shape point cloud, was built. The limb orthosis obtained using the proposed system was manufactured by means of biocompatible filaments (ABS) and a Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) printer. Furthermore, a time-cost assessment was carried out tailored to the developed medical application. Results demonstrated that the AM techniques might provide a valid technical and cost-effective alternative to the traditional fabrication methods.