Patent ID: 7981115

Claim:
A system for measuring spacing between first and second locations in an animal subject, comprising: a pair of anchor extensions each including a proximal end and an opposite distal end, said distal ends being engageable in the animal subject in association with a respective one of the locations; a measuring instrument mountable to said proximal ends of said pair of anchor extensions, said measuring instrument including first and second articulating mechanisms engageable to and movable relative to a respective one of said pair of anchor extensions, wherein at least one of said first and second articulating mechanisms includes: a mounting member removably engageable to said respective one of said pair of anchor extensions; a first arm extending from said mounting member to a linking member opposite said mounting member; a second arm extending from said linking member to an alignment member opposite said linking member, wherein said first arm is rotatable about said respective anchor extension to reposition said linking member about said respective anchor extensions and said second arm is rotatable about said linking member to reposition said alignment member about said linking member; and said measuring instrument further including an indicator extending between and connecting said first and second articulating mechanisms to one another, said indicator including means for measuring the spacing between the first and second articulating mechanisms to provide an indication of the spacing between the first and second locations, wherein said anchor extensions each extend proximally from a respective one of the first and second locations along a mounting axis when engaged in the animal subject and said linking member of said at least one of said first and second articulating mechanisms extends along a linking axis that intersects said mounting axis of said respective anchor extension at said respective one of the first and second locations without regard to orientation of said pair of anchor extensions relative to one another.