Crossroads -Nitinol Staple
Nitinol is a metal alloy developed by the U.S. Navy. It got its name because it is composed of essentially of 50% nickel and 50% titanium. Nitinol is frequently called “memory metal” because it is super-elastic and has shape-memory, which means it can be twisted or stressed and will return to its original structure.
In fact, Nitinol can deform 10-30 times as much as ordinary metals and still revert to its initial form. This makes it an ideal material for bone staples. A Nitinol staple can be inserted in an open position and it will theoretically apply constant compression to the bone forever. Throughout the years, CrossRoads has integrated Nitinol into our products because of it’s ability to perpetually provide compression. Now, CrossRoads offers the most complete Nitinol compression system in the industry.
Simply put, “compression” is two objects being pushed together. Compression is important in bone healing because bones grow stronger and heal better when pressure is placed on them. This phenomenon is called Wolff’s Law. Therefore, when bones are fused to each other, the primary objective is to ensure they stay aligned and compressed together during the healing process. If the bones do not stay compressed, the bones may not fuse. Studies have shown that bones that stay compressed heal faster.