Patent ID: 7972365

Claim:
A method for inserting an interbody spinal implant at least in part within a disc space between two adjacent vertebral bodies of a human spine, the method comprising: providing the spinal implant having a body with an upper portion, an opposite lower portion, and a height therebetween, the implant having width transverse to the height and greater than the height, the implant having first and second rotatable shafts, each shaft having a plurality of bone engaging projections, each of the bone engaging projections being spaced apart from one another, the first and second shafts being rotatable from an undeployed position wherein the bone engaging projections are positioned at least in part within the body of the implant to a deployed position wherein the bone engaging projections are positioned at least in part outside of the body of the implant; removing at least a portion of disc material from the disc space to create an implantation space for insertion of the spinal implant; preparing the implantation space by removing a portion of bone from at least one of the adjacent vertebral bodies, the implantation space being sized to receive at least a portion of the spinal implant; inserting the spinal implant into the implantation space; rotating the first shaft to deploy the bone engaging projections of the first shaft to penetrably engage one of the adjacent vertebral bodies; and rotating the second shaft to deploy the bone engaging projections of the second shaft to penetrably engage one of the adjacent vertebral bodies.