The rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that affects 1% of the population and in Spain is suffered by nearly than 250,000 people, it is a disabling disease with which patients live long-term. The need to improve their quality of life and provide continuity to quality and effective health care are two essential aspects.
With this in mind, a professor at Loughborough University (UK) has developed a software prototype that will enable clinicians with no Computer Aided Design (CAD) experience to design and make custom wrist splints for rheumatoid arthritis patients. For the production of the splint, first the patient’s arm is scanned, from that digitized information, the 3D CAD software generates the three-dimensional model. The 3D printer can then produce as many splints as needed, simply by pressing a button .
In addition, in this case, we are working with a 3D printer capable of producing parts by combining multiple colors and different types of materials, a feature that promises to radically accelerate industrial design, engineering, and manufacturing processes, but most importantly, it generate splints that provide protection, rest, pain relief and reduction of joint inflammation.