STUDY DESIGN: This is an intrasubject cross-sectional study. INTRODUCTION: Upper limb injuries often require wearing an orthosis. Today, orthoses are custom-made by the clinician or purchased as an off-shelf product. Although 3D printing is a popular solution, the design and adjustment of an orthosis model according to patient-specific anatomy requires technical expertise, often unavailable to the clinicians. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The purposes of this study were (a) to create software that receives input of anatomic dimensions of the finger and automatically adjusts an orthosis model for patient-specific 3D printing and (b) to compare preparation time, product weight, and user satisfaction of occupational therapy students between the manual method and the automatic 3D printing method. METHODS: A custom code allows the user to measure five anatomic measurements of the finger. The code adjusts a swan-neck orthosis model according to the patient-specific measurements and a fitted resized 3D-printable file is produced. We recruited 36 occupational therapy students (age 25.4+/- 1.9 years). They prepared two swan-neck orthoses for a finger of a rubber mannequin: one manually using a thermoplastic material and the other by 3D printing. The preparation time and orthosis weight were measured and the subjects filled out a user satisfaction questionnaire. RESULTS: The weight of the 3D-printed orthosis was significantly lower than that of the manual orthosis; however, the preparation time was longer. The subjects were more satisfied with the fit, esthetics, overall process, and product of the 3D-printed orthosis. CONCLUSION: The creation of automated software for the patient-specific adjustment of orthoses for 3D printing can be the missing link for integration of 3D printing in the clinics.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• DOI
• PubMed
• PDF locator
• publisher