Even though modern techniques like laser cutting allow precision cutting and the least pain possible, surgery is still often a painful ordeal and one that takes a good bit of time to recover from. Especially major surgery like having a joint replaced. Unfortunately, growing older often makes it necessary to replace body parts that only last so long after thousands upon thousands of times walking, running, lifting, moving your joints over and over. But thankful prosthetic shoulder blades, kneecaps, and hip joints are available now that work almost as well as the real thing.
If you’ve ever had surgery, you know that even the time leading up to the all-important day of the hospital visit can be nerve-wracking. You’re thinking about how much pain you might have to endure, how much could go wrong, how long it will take to recover. What if your body doesn’t recognize the prosthetic hipbone? What if the doctor doesn’t attach it in the proper way? Mulling over what could go wrong only adds unnecessary stress to an already stressful time on your body. It’s important to stay busy and focus on your life now—work, family, etc.
Finally the day comes. You walk into the hospital room, surrounded by men and women wearing sterile green coats, plastic caps, masks, and latex gloves. You lie down on the bed, and a nurse inserts an IV. Pretty soon everything fades away and you go into dreamworld (or a no-dreamworld sound sleep).
You wake up and the procedure’s all done. Right now you can’t feel anything because of the anesthetic, but you know that pretty soon you’ll be feeling your body adjusting to its new joint every time you lift your leg, every time you take a step.
Unfortunately, the human body sometimes does reject prosthetic implants. That’s one reason that prosthetic medical parts must be completely sterile and free from any foreign particles. Manufacturers of medical implants place their products in wire baskets, which then enter an intense cleaning process that removes any dust or other tiny particles that taint the surface of the medical part.
Three M Tool, a company based in York, PA, manufactures custom baskets for all kinds of industries. They will make a basket according to the shape, size, and materials a customer wants. For a medical industry, they will make a basket the right height to hold a prosthetic implant and choose a mesh size that holds the parts firmly yet allows chemicals to flow freely through to clean parts.
After surgery, you can be thankful every time you take a step for an accurately manufactured, clean prosthetic hip that your body readily accepts. Even if it’s not quite the real bone you had before, it’s a great alternative, and better than no alternative.
Yes, stainless steel baskets truly are a great tool for ensuring sanitation and quality control. Three M Tool’s products to help ensure that medical manufacturing produces the highest quality.
Three M Tool can be contacted by calling 800.309.0671 or by visiting threemtool.com.