Patent ID: 8771271

Claim:
A bone fixation assembly comprising: an intramedullary nail having a nail body that is elongate substantially along a longitudinal direction, the nail body defining a first portion positioned to attach to a first bone segment and a second portion that is spaced from the first portion along the longitudinal direction and positioned to attach to a second bone segment that is separated from the first bone segment by a bone gap, the nail body including opposed first and second internal surfaces that cooperate to at least partially define a compression slot extending into the first portion of the nail body, the compression slot defining a plurality of pockets and respective intersections between adjacent ones of the plurality of pockets, wherein the compression slot defines a first width along a second direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction at one of the intersections, and the compression slot defines a second width at one of the pockets along a direction substantially parallel to the first width, such that the second width is greater than the first width, and wherein at least one or both of the first and second internal surfaces is movable away from the other of the first and second internal surfaces in response to movement of a compression member along the compression slot from one of the plurality of pockets, and into the one of the intersections toward another of the plurality of pockets.