Patent ID: 8623059

Claim:
A method for controlling relative motion between a first vertebra and a second vertebra, the method comprising: providing a first stabilizer including a planar spring lying in a plane at rest, the planar spring having a center; and engaging an arm coupled to a housing of the first stabilizer with the first and second vertebrae, the arm having a long axis, wherein, after engagement of the arm with the vertebrae, the planar spring is configured to flex out-of-plane in a first direction in response to movement of the first and second vertebra towards one another, and out-of-plane in a second opposing direction in response to movement of the first and second vertebra away from one another, the planar spring being predisposed to resist such flexion out-of-plane, wherein the long axis of the arm is transverse to the plane in which the planar spring is disposed at rest, and wherein flexing of the planar spring out-of-plane results in resilient deflection of at least a portion of the planar spring away from the center of the spring and in a direction transverse to the plane in which the spring is disposed at rest.