Design of a Pneumatic Splint for Forearm Fracture Immobilization

This paper introduces a pneumatic splint design for managing distal radius and ulna fractures which are injuries commonly occurring in adults. The proposed design capitalizes on the advantages of pneumatically-actuated splints while mitigating airflow complications associated with conventional designs. The designed splint comprises two primary components: 1) a pressure cuff that wraps around the forearm and inflates to apply pressure on the injury site, and 2) a forearm support platform that combines all the different components together to contribute to forearm immobilization. Modeling and simulation results that informed the design selection process are presented, offering insights on component selection and system integration. Results demonstrate the preliminary feasibility of the proposed design and provide pointers toward the fabrication of a prototype in future work.