With more that two decades of R&D invested in the Mekanika Spinal Restabilization System - a revolutionary advancement in the diagnosis and treatment of spinal instability the firm was founded within the University of Miami's Orthopaedic Surgery Department, where the project PI was Director of the Spine Biomechanics Research Lab. The Spinal Stiffness Gauge (SSG) was patented and developed to allow an accurate, objective, intra-operative, computer-based measurement of spine joint instability before and after spinal decompression. The SSG was used at the University of Miami in over 300 patients undergoing spine surgery to demonstrate the accuracy and value of the measurement, which may become the needed, essential definition of spinal instability used to guide and document the necessity for fusion, restabilization or just the decompression. A database of SSG measurements has been developed from the test results in 300 patients, and can be reviewed in the May 2002 issue of SPINE. More recently, the firm has been structured around using fusion, stabilization and/or in-combination to augment support of fusion, cages, and artificial discs.
