A Mathematical Model for the Use of a Gough-Stewart Platform Mechanism as a Fixator

One of the spatial external fixators, which can provide six degrees of freedom, three rotations and three translations, in handling extremity fractures and deformity-correction cases, is the so-called Gough-Stewart Platform Mechanism with six adjustable bars and two platforms. A mathematical model is developed for an effective deployment of the apparatus in orthopaedic processes. The model basically accepts input radiographic and clinical data and provides the bar lengths under several conditions and possibilities systematically studied, on the one hand, and predicts the behavior of the fixator assembly as to the guiding of the bone fragments in a controlled fashion determined by the treatment strategy, on the other. Numerical examples are presented to verify the model