Two Production Approaches for 3D-printed Customized Wrist-hand Orthoses

The 3D Printing technology in the orthotics field offers known benefits (customized design, enhanced aesthetics, lighter weight and recyclable material) which are appealing to the patients, thus improving their adherence to use orthoses or splints that provide immobilization during healing. Nowadays, the research interests are focused on aspects typical for the next level of maturity of this field, such as conducting randomized controlled clinical studies and assessing the feasibility of implementing 3D-printed customized orthoses in the 3D Printing Points-of-Care. In this context, simplifying the development process of the 3D-printed customized wrist-hand orthoses represents an important goal as the resources required (equipment, design software and specialized staff), as well as the long manufacturing time are aspects limiting the use of these personalized medical devices despite a large worldwide incidence of wrist-related injuries. Thus, this paper presents a preliminary analysis of two production approaches for 3D-printed wrist-hand orthoses, one of them proving to be faster and requiring less engineering expertise. The assessment of comfort showed that there is not an important difference between the two analyzed orthoses, as reported by a user.