Broken legs, arms or heart is very painful whereas the former two heals faster than the later but, in both cases, the process is quite painful. Breaking of an arm or a leg causes a lot of pain and additional pain and discomfort come with plaster cast that is put on to cure the fracture. A group of engineers in Chicago discovered a better way of recovery, by developing a modified plaster cast. A start-up company, Cast21 designed a futuristic sleeve that is also lightweight apart from being waterproof and breathable. Now doctors use traditional plaster or fiberglass casts that are very uncomfortable, unable to clean beneath the moulded brace and make the skin susceptible to rot and infection. Biomedical design engineer Ashley Moy, Justin Brooks-electrical engineer, and Jason Troutner from the University of Illinois came up with this brilliant and innovative idea. The mechanism includes liquid resin that hardens and sets the bone in place. Veronica Hogg, the vice president of engineering of Cast21 explained,
“Another bonus is that no electricity or water is needed to apply our cast, so it’s very portable. It has the potential for use in the military and for at-home first aid,"Firstly, the affected limb is measured, after deciding on the correct size doctors slide a flexible, slightly padded sleeve onto the patient's arm. Then they pour a mixture of resins in the empty sleeve through a valved nozzle. Once the sleeve is full, the liquid within three minutes turns to a malleable gel. The product is then molded and fitted in the patient's arm. After about five to seven minutes it hardens completely. Hogg further said, "The idea is to prove that this technology works… right now, we are past the prototype stage and have a fully functioning model in place for the forearm.We hope that this technology can span across the entire body. We are looking forward to having a lower limb model for ankle fractures soon."In addition to being comfortable and waterproof, these casts are quite colorful in appearance also. Removal of these casts is easier than the traditional ones as they don’t require a circular saw to cut them off.
