Work holders – Miscellaneous
Patent
1986-03-10
1988-01-05
Watson, Robert C.
Work holders
Miscellaneous
188290, A61G 1300
Patent
active
047171332
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This U.S. application stems from PCT International Application No. PCT/AU85/00154 filed July 15, 1985.
The present invention relates to a leg holding and positioning device suitable for use in surgical operations on the leg of a patient.
As used throughout this specification, reference to the term "leg" should--unless otherwise indicated--be considered to refer to the combined upper and lower segments of the human lower limb.
Surgical operations on the leg, especially operations performed on the knee joint and/or surrounding tissues, often require the leg to be supported in a particular position or orientation. For example, optimal surgical access to the knee joint or other parts of the leg may require flexing of the hip up to about 90.degree. and the knee up to about 160.degree., combined with abduction/adduction of the leg about the hip joint, varus/valgus rotation about the anterior-posterior axis through the knee and/or axial (internal/external) rotation of the foot.
Although it has previously been known to try to support the leg in the required position, the previously known devices have been cumbersome or inefficient, or indeed not suited for use in the sterile environment of an operating theatre. Hence, in many cases, the orthopaedic surgeon relies on the presence of an assistant to hold the patient's leg and to move it to the required positions. However, this is not entirely suitable for a number of reasons. Firstly considerable physical strength is required of the assistant, secondly the effects of fatigue associated with the long surgical procedures produce the possibility of slight inadvertent movements occurring at critical phases of the procedure.
In many cases, the assistant who is required to hold the leg will be an assistant surgeon--because the task may be too exhausting for normal nursing staff, or because the angle at which the leg is held is critical to the success of the operation and requires expert knowledge--and this is inefficient use of the skills and training of the assistant surgeon.
It is an object of this invention to provide a device suitable for holding the leg of a patient during surgical procedures on the leg.
It is another object of this invention to provide such a leg holding device which permits orientation of the patient's leg to the position required for the various surgical procedures on the leg or knee joint and which provides rigid support for the leg during the operation, thereby relieving the assistant of physical effort enabling him to assist directly with the procedure.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a leg holding device which is substantially adjustable to the required operative position of the patient's leg, which is readily adjustable during the operative procedures and which is preferably autoclavable or otherwise sterilisable to the requirements of the surgical environment.
According to the present invention there is provided a leg holding and positioning device for use in surgical operative procedures, said device comprising a housing, a member downwardly extending therefrom and adapted to be adjustably attached to a side rail of a surgical operating table for movement upwardly and downwardly and along said rail, a rotatable shaft extending through a sidewall of the housing, means within said housing to control the rotation of said rotatable shaft about an axis lying in a plane substantially parallel to the top surface of the operating table and for fixing said shaft in any one of a plurality of positions of rotation, the free end of said rotatable shaft having fixed thereto a second member extending substantially radially from it and arranged to be positioned to lie alongside the operative leg of a person on the operating table, and means on the second member for releasably attaching said operative leg thereto.
The rotation of the rotatable shaft is controlled by any suitable means, such as, for example, gear means in said housing controllable by operative means outside the housing, or a rotat
REFERENCES:
patent: 1516795 (1924-11-01), Schwarting
patent: 2801142 (1957-07-01), Adams
patent: 3211396 (1965-10-01), McQuillen
patent: 3817512 (1974-06-01), Torrey
patent: 3865216 (1975-02-01), Gryglas
patent: 4426071 (1984-01-01), Kleustad
Churches Alexander E.
Walsh Michael J.
Unisearch Limited
Watson Robert C.
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