Hand injuries can have a devastating effect on those who suffer from them. Functional difficulty and chronic pain are only some of the difficulties associated with these injuries. The solution for many patients is occupational therapy, which includes, among other things, adapted support measures such as a brace. A brace can reduce pain, prevent aggravation, and even speed up recovery, but it is not without problems.
Generic splints do not provide a satisfactory clinical response, and customized splints present various problems, such as increased sweating, various skin phenomena, pressure sores, and hygienic and aesthetic deficiencies. 3D printed splints have been proposed several times as a promising alternative for customized splints but are not implemented in the clinical setting. The digital industrial revolution marks a drastic change in the paradigms of the world of production; the transfer of ownership of the production processes to small producers and users makes it possible to produce customized accessories. One world with a constant need for customization is the world of medicine and health. Customized accessories in the world of medicine today are based on a process that includes 3D scanning and complex planning of the final accessory.
In this research, we aim to produce splints for hand injuries and offer an alternative to the scanning process by using a parametric model of the hand and arm, which can be edited by entering the patient’s measurements. The increasing accessibility of home production means such as 3D printers opens up many possibilities but, at the same time, raises a question about the accessibility of the design means in addition to the production means. Our aim is to produce a workflow that makes the design accessible to allow widespread access to personalized medical accessories.
