Patent ID: 8480711

Claim:
A bone stabilizer assembly, comprising: a fixation element adapted to engage a bone and having a head portion and shank portion, wherein the head portion is substantially spherical in shape; a coupling element having an internal bore sized to receive the shank portion of the fixation element and a pyramid-shaped seat for supporting the head portion of the fixation element, the coupling element adapted to receive a stabilizer rod; and a compression nut engagable with the coupling element, the compression nut adapted to rotatingly move distally into the coupling element to translate a force to the head portion through the rod such that the head portion is forced against the seat of the coupling element to prevent relative movement between the fixation element and the coupling element; wherein the head portion causes indentations at multiple contact points in the seat where the head portion is forced directly against the pyramid-shaped seat when the compression nut translates the force to restrict relative movement between the fixation element and the coupling element.