Patent ID: 7534220

Claim:
An ergonomic brace comprising: a first elongate strut; a second elongate strut; pivoting arrangements for intercoupling said first strut and said second strut; said pivoting arrangements having a center; and said pivoting arrangements including stop assemblies both for flexion and extension, including; a) a catch plate formed of a fiat arcuate disc having an arcuate opening and having stop recesses facing or opening toward the center of said pivoting arrangements; b) a movable stop pivoted at the center of the assembly and having an outwardly biased locking member for engaging said stop recesses, coupled to a release button which extends radially outward to the periphery of said pivoting arrangements; and c) said release button being movable inward to shift said locking member out of said stop recesses to permit angular adjustment of said stop; at least one of said struts having a flexion stop surface for engaging the flexion stop assembly; at least one of said struts having an extension stop surface for engaging the extension stop assembly; and an extension slidably engaging and extending over at least one of said first strut and second strut, wherein the extension includes a screw-in lock engaging one of a plurality of receiving holes in the at least one of said first strut and second strut; wherein the screw-in lock includes a rotating lever having a threaded post screwed to respective threads formed within the thickness of the extension and the extension defining an outer surface forming a ramped turn stop arranged to selectively engage the lever such that the rotating lever encounters rising resistance while moving up the turn stop in a first rotational direction until encountering a flat engagement face formed at one side of the turn stop to prevent further rotation of the rotating lever in the first rotational direction.