Patent ID: 8029506

Claim:
A bone treatment device comprising: a biocompatible shaft having a tubular wall, said tubular wall defining a shaft lumen and at least one opening through the tubular wall, the at least one opening being in communication with the shaft lumen; at least one bone anchoring element coupled to the tubular wall adjacent the at least one opening, the at least one bone anchoring element being configured and dimensioned to be moveable between at least: (i) a first position inside the shaft lumen in the absence of an engaging actuating force within the shaft lumen; and (ii) a second position at least partially out of the at least one opening in the presence of an engaging actuating force within the shaft lumen; and an actuator configured to be received within the shaft lumen to provide the engaging actuating force to deploy the at least one anchoring element from the first position inside the shaft lumen to the second position at least partially out of the at least one opening; wherein the presence of the engaging actuating force within the shaft lumen prevents the at least one engaged bone anchoring element from moving to the first position inside the shaft lumen; and wherein the actuator is axially and substantially non-rotationally moved within the shaft lumen to deploy the at least one anchoring element from the first position inside the shaft lumen to the second position at least partially out of the at least one opening; wherein the actuator is configured to be placed within a first rotational orietation that does not deploy the at least one anchoring element when the actuator is axially moved by the at least one anchoring element, and a second rotational orientation that deploys the at least one anchoring element when the actuator is axially moved by the at least one anchoring element.