I should have researched this earlier. Casts from Exos Medical are made for sporty people. Here's the write up.
I've been pretty cranky about the casts I've had to wear over the past few weeks. They suck. I would have loved something like that Exos Medical cast.
The first casts I had to wear were low technology stuff--elastic wrap, cotton, and plaster. The cast I have on now is the fiberglass tape variety. It's a big improvement, but it's definitely not on par with any of the bike gear I use on a daily basis--like my bike shoes.
My engineering brain has been chewing on the cast problem for several days. The problem with the fiberglass casts are that they are just basically a deformed tube with a thin pad that doesn't distribute pressure very well. I end up with pressure points at the ends of the fiberglass whenever I move my hand or fingers. In fact, there's no neutral position. The fucking thing is always squeezing or poking me!
The Exos cast is basically like a bike shoe for your arm, leg, or whatever. It's heat moldable and uses a boa closure. I think it would be a HUGE improvement over fiberglass, but I think it couldn't be ideal. With a bike shoe, the engineering problem is much simpler, because the shape of the foot doesn't change much around a pedal stroke. With an arm cast, though, your bones and muscles move around quite a bit whenever you move your arm, fingers, or hand. Any squishy material really isn't going to work well. The real solution would be an articulated exoskeleton with padding.
So, hopefully I won't need a cast again! But if I do, I think I'll get one of these Exos casts.
2 comments:
Knock on wood, I have only had to wear a cast once in my life. It was about 45 years ago for a broken wrist. The cast was simple in that it was just an aluminum plate (covered in plastic) with an ace bandage. I wasn't allowed to take it off but it itched like crazy. I found myself sticking pencils inside it to relieve the "issue". When the doctor finally took it off (remember I was in eighth grade)and washed it, it was better than sex!! Never want to do that again just for that pleasure though.
I was lucky--for most of my life, no broken bones, then the last few years, I've been racking them up.
I can't wait 'til they cut this cast off! The fiberglass tape version isn't too bad, but there is lots of room for improvement! No air flow, for one thing. But really, the main problem might be knowing that you can't remove it.
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