Patent ID: 8906098

Claim:
A device for introduction along a guide into a body, the device assuming within the body a deflected configuration, the device comprising: an elongated element comprising a series of segments, and at least one resilient element cooperating with said series of segments so as to bias said elongated element towards the deflected configuration such that: (a) when the elongated element is confined by the guide to an insertion configuration, the elongated element can be pushed so as to advance along the guide; and (b) when the elongated element is not confined by the guide to said insertion configuration, each segment is deflectable relative to adjacent segments until at least one abutment surface of each of the segments comes into abutment with at least one corresponding abutment surface of each sequentially adjacent segment, thereby defining a flexed state of the elongated element, the flexed state corresponding to a deflected configuration of the elongated element; such that a transition from said insertion configuration to the predefined deflected configuration occurs progressively such that, as the elongated element is advanced, a portion of the elongated element associated with the guide remains in said insertion configuration, and a portion of the elongated element that has left the guide is biased by said at least one resilient element towards the flexed state, wherein said series of segments are sequentially flexibly interconnected, and wherein, after deployment of said elongated element in the deflected configuration, said elongated element forms at least part of an orthopedic implant, and wherein said at least one resilient element is implemented as an elongated sheet spring element passing through a channel formed in each segment of said series of segments.