Patent ID: 8641767

Claim:
An expansion member for sequential insertion into a space between opposing tissue surfaces to be distracted, comprising: an elongated body having an upper surface and an opposite lower surface, and an insertion end and an opposite trailing end; a female feature defined on one of said upper and lower surface, said female feature defining an elongated recess having an opening at said trailing end, an engagement surface adjacent said opening and an end wall at the insertion end opposite said opening; a male feature defined on the other of said upper and lower surface, said male feature including an elongated boss configured to be received within an elongated recess of an adjacent elongated body and having an engagement surface at the trailing end arranged to engage with a recess engagement surface of said adjacent elongated body when said boss is within said elongated recess of said adjacent elongated body; and resilient interlocking features defined between said female and male features for resiliently interlocking adjacent elongated bodies when the male feature of one body is inserted into a female feature of said adjacent elongated body, said resilient interlocking features including at least one latch element and an indentation adjacent said latch element defined at opposite sides of said recess and at least one corresponding mating indentation and mating latch element adjacent said mating indentation defined at opposite sides of said boss, said resilient interlocking features including a slot defined through said elongated body extending along at least a portion of the length of said elongated boss and disposed between said mating indentation and said mating latch element on said opposite sides of said boss.