Patent ID: 7942875

Claim:
A method of repairing a fracture of a bone of a patient, the bone having an intramedullary space extending along an axis of the bone, the bone having a bony protuberance off the axis near an end of the bone, the method comprising: forming a channel to access the fracture, the channel extending through the bony protuberance from an access point to the intramedullary space, wherein the channel is not parallel to the axis of the bone and the channel defines a placement angle from the axis of the bone; advancing a bone fixation device via the access point to the channel, and through the channel and across the placement angle into the intramedullary space, the bone fixation device comprising an outer sleeve and a plurality of inner annular anchoring segments, the plurality of inner annular anchoring segments spaced apart axially along an axial portion of the device, the inner anchoring segments disposed within the outer sleeve and each having deflectable elongate teeth extendable through a plurality of slots in the outer sleeve wherein the axial portion of the bone fixation device bends along its length to traverse the placement angle during the advancement of the bone fixation device into the intramedullary space and prior to extending the deflectable elongate teeth; advancing an obturator through the bony protuberance and across the fracture prior to advancing the bone fixation device into the intramedullary space and bending the device with the deflectable elongate teeth undeployed to traverse the fracture; and locking the bone fixation device into place within the intramedullary space of the bone by rotating an elongate structure extending along the channel and around the placement angle so that the elongate structure urges the plurality of inner annular anchoring segments having the plurality of deflectable elongate teeth along the axis with an axial loading force such that the device is locked and the deflectable elongate teeth extend radially outward through the plurality of slots, and so that the axial loading force anchors the bone fixation device to the bone.