• Pain
• Loss of motion
• Inability to lift (pronation/supination)
• Previous injury
  • Distal Radius Fracture
  • Distal Ulna Fracture
  • Severe dislocations with cartilage damage
• Experiencing pain in or near the wrist during pronation and supination (rotating) of the hand.
• Experiencing pain or weakness in or near the wrist when lifting objects.
• Injuries to the Distal Radial Ulna Joint or it's supporting structures leading to irreversible damage to the joint lining (loss of cartilage)
  • Wrist fractures (distal radius / distal ulna)
  • Ligament tears allowing a miss alignment of the joint surfaces
  • Arthritis leading to a loss of cartilage
  • Any other injury or surgery resulting in bone to bone pinching or contact

Before APTIS, injury to the Distal Radial Ulna Joint left patients with impaired wrist abilities. Not only did patients suffer a loss of mobility, they also had to contend with serious pain while trying to perform even simple tasks, like turning a door knob or lifting a gallon of milk, or even while sleeping.

This pain results from a loss of the unique function of the Distal Radial Ulna Joint. Without the Distal Radial Ulna Joint to act as a pivot, the radius and ulna would pinch together when any force was applied to the wrist. The most common solution up to now was to cut off part of the distal ulna. And while this alleviated pain, patients still had very little functionality left in the affected wrist. Since the radius and ulna couldn't work in perfect conjunction, the wrist had very little ability to perform any turning or twisting motion. And lifting anything was practically out of the question.

But APTIS has changed all that. In a sense, the APTIS prosthesis recreates the complex and unique function of the distal radial ulna joint, allowing the radius and ulna to pivot as they are supposed to do. In so doing, the APTIS prosthesis alleviates the pain previously associated with Distal Radial Ulna Joint damage or removal, while still allowing the patient to use the wrist for lifting and turning. Something that was not possible with joint removal.

With the APTIS prosthesis in place, the organic Distal Radial Ulna Joint is replaced by a mechanical device that uses two pieces of cobalt chromium that pivot at an enclosed polymer ball (UHMWP - Ultra High Molecular Weight Polymer). The polymer ball allows the prosthesis to perform a full range of movement, while exhibiting virtually any wear.