Plain bearings for prostheses and orthoses

Lightweight, robust and low-wear

Prostheses and orthopaedic splints are designed to make life easier and provide greater freedom of movement, and the demands placed on them are correspondingly high. The material should be able to withstand the strain, but at the same time not be too heavy so as not to tire the wearer. It should be able to be used anywhere, for swimming in salt or chlorinated water, in sand, in plus and minus temperatures. Even creams and medical products should not restrict its function or stress the material. Plastic bearings from igus are made for precisely such applications and fit perfectly into designs with high requirements.

Advantages of iglidur plain bearings:

No stick-slip effect
Shock absorbing
Low coefficient of friction
Silent
Resistant to impact and edge loads
Resistant to media
Insensitive to dirt
Lubricant-free

Products often used with prostheses and orthoses

iglidur W300

For particularly long service life in continuous operation
Low coefficient of friction, extremely high abrasion resistance
Suitable for rough shafts and stainless steel shafts
Dirt resistant

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iglidur bar stock

iglidur materials as round rods, tubes and plates
Currently 25 iglidur materials to choose from
Cut to desired size without waste removal
Mechanical processing from quantity 1

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Various special bearings customised by igus to your specific requirements

Customised component

In desired shape and material from quantity 1
Fast production
Suitable for prototypes, small and large series
Large selection of high-performance materials

Special and drawing parts

Free sample box

Test our energy supply systems and bearing technology for medical technology yourself; they improve the performance of your equipment whilst lowering costs.

You can find more information about the contents of the box at the Medibox info page.

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Customer application examples

Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH knee joint prosthesis with iglidur piston rings

Plastic bearings ensure greater safety for knee joint prostheses
Ottobock relies on our lubrication-free iglidur W300 and Q bearings and iglidur J guide rings in its knee joint prostheses. They replace previously used metal bearings and PTFE strips, which led to functional problems after a short time and became a safety risk.

Hip joint prosthesis with iglidur bearings by Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH

Switching to plastic bearings makes the movement of sports leg prostheses smoother
The "TT Pro" from Blatchford is an adapter for leg prostheses that are used for sporting activities such as golf. Switching from metal bearings to our extremely robust iglidur Z bearings has resulted in less stiffness and therefore greater comfort.

More about this application

Fingers of a Vincent Systems GmbH hand prosthesis with iglidur plain bearings

Further success stories
Discover how our motion plastics products are used in other prostheses/orthoses as well as wheelchairs, fitness and rehabilitation equipment in this selection of application examples sorted by area of use.

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Tested in the igus test laboratory with regard to service life and wear

All products are tested for wear and load capacity under real-life conditions in the igus test laboratory, the largest in the industry. The results are incorporated into our online tools for service life calculation and enable exact predictions of durability.

Upon request, igus performs customer tests to check product use under specific conditions.

More about the igus test laboratory

More information

Dedicated brochure for prostheses & ortheses

Product brochure as PDF
All important information about our products and services for prostheses & orthoses.

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igus online tools
Configure required product online, calculate service life, reduce process costs

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Related website: Medical technology
Plastic solutions for X-ray robots, laboratory equipment, wheelchairs, medical furniture, ...

To the Medical Technology website

ASI Automatikk AS Distributor+47 9006 1100