A Better Brace
For the 2020 – 2021 school year, for my i2 project, I decided to redesign the typical model for a standard armbrace given to a patient after breaking a bone in the arm or wrist. I improved the design by making it lighter, more comfortable, and less expensive. To make it lighter, I decided to use thermal plastic straying away from the use of metal strips to keep the arm in place. In terms of comfort, while wearing mine, I found that the braces got hot, and my arm became sweaty and itchy. To prevent your arm from burning up, I made holes in the thermal plastic, and I used breathable synthetic cotton and soft fleece fabric as padding. To solve the itchiness, I put a thin outer layer surrounding the fleece fabric and thermal plastic with breathable cotton. Last, to minimize cost, I chose less expensive materials from the $70 – $100 range to approximately $40 including stitching costs. This project can be used to help anyone who broke their arm or wrist and wants to save a little bit of money on a medical expense.
