Pulley Ring (Pulley Protection Splint) v2

thingiverse

I am not a doctor, nor do I possess any medical training. Nonetheless, I hope this can be helpful to people. Feedback is more than welcome! This is version 2 of a pulley protection splint, also known as a pulley ring. A friend of mine suffered from a severe A2 pulley injury and was concerned about her recovery. She conducted some research and discovered a paper on this ring that supports the pulley during recovery. She asked if I could 3D print one for her. Research for reference: https://awls.org/wilderness-medicine-case-studies/pulley-injuries-in-rock-climbers/ https://theclimbingdoctor.com/pulley-injuries-explained-part-2/ We didn't have a model, so this is one of the first things I attempted to design. We went through several iterations before coming up with this. The ring fits sideways over the injured finger. The idea is that it supports the tendon while the pulley recovers. It should be tight, but not uncomfortable. The ring is placed on the finger sideways as well, not over the knuckle like a traditional ring. One detail I overlooked in the first version was the side gap should be present on both sides of the ring. It allows the nerve and arteries at the side of the finger to not be compressed. I printed her several rings out of PLA and a couple out of PETG. The PLA rings seem to work the best. It is customizable to get the fit right. All variables are in millimeters. size = the size of the hole of the ring. It should match the diameter of your finger. height = the Z height of the ring. 7.5mm worked for her. thickness = the thickness of the ring wall gap = the size of the bottom gap to fit over the finger as well as the top gap for the nerves. bar_length = the size of the bottom bars. These help expand the ring for fitting over the finger.