ReJoint Inc. is a team determined to solve protection problems for joints. The team members are: Ally, the “Shaper,” Isabella, the “Coordinator,” Sarahi, the “Solver,” and Shana, the “Implementer.” The mission statement for our company is: “ReJoint Inc. promises to treat all members with dignity and respect, and to present problems in a way that promotes mutual discussion and resolution, while every member continues to contribute to our success.”
In this group the majority of us have worked together on previous projects or dissections in our biomedical innovations class. We all worked well together, which is why we chose to work together again. Our last project we felt came together really nicely even though we had some minor issues. We are really looking to fixing these problems and making an even better project and product. Something that our group needs to work on is listening and encouraging each other’s idea. Last year we had some issues with immediately putting down someone’s idea without thinking it through. This goes with another improvement we need to make: being more thorough. To make sure we do everything correctly we need to read the rubrics and understand what is asked of us, if we don’t, we should be encouraged by our team mates to ask questions.
The joint we would prefer to make a prototype for is the knee, which is located right above the tibia and under the femur. It is a hinge joint meaning it allows motion on one plane, another example of a hinge joint is the elbow which is our second choice. We are interested in this specific joint because it is used in so many activities. It endures our upper body and really strong forces on a daily basis, which must cause some kind of injury. It also contributes to many sports such as soccer, track, football, tennis, and gymnastics. Having a mechanism that protects such an important joint would do very well on the market. 3 devices that already exist include:
- Pro-tec athletics knee patellar tendon strap
- Cyto cell knee brace
- Compression support sleeve
Our second choice is another hinge joint which was mentioned earlier, the elbow. The elbow is very similar to the knee except it doesn’t endure such forces. Unless you’re a gymnast the elbow shouldn’t be much of a problem since it’s only used to bend your arm on daily basis, which isn’t so difficult. It is above the ulna and right under the humerus. One of our team members has background knowledge on the joint which would give us a headstart into the project.
For this project, our team, ReJoint, will create a protective device for knee or elbow. After deciding our joint this class, next class January 13th we will do research on existing products made to protect the knee. This will give us a big picture and ideas of other devices that offer protection to our joint. Then from January 15th to 22nd we will have deeper study of the anatomy of selected joint, make a joint model as well which will help us understand possible injuries causes and types. Brainstorming and concept generation will start on February 3rd and include prototyping and drafting design proposal until February 16th. From February 18th to the 24th are the dates we will work on creating the prototype. The plan for prototype testing and evaluation plus marketing campaign will last from February 26th to March 11th. Our final product should finished on March 24. The final prototype should finish on April 8th. Our presentation is due April 26th or 28th.
StarPathDesign 
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