Patent ID: 7815659

Claim:
A medical instrument comprising: a shaft having a proximal end and a distal end, and defining a channel extending through the shaft, wherein the distal end of the shaft includes a penetrating tip; a tissue stop received over the shaft and including a distal end, a proximal end and at least one arm between the distal end of the tissue stop and the proximal end of the tissue stop, the proximal end of the tissue stop being fixedly connected to the shaft and the distal end of the tissue stop being slideably received over the shaft and moveable relative to the shaft and the proximal end of the tissue stop, wherein the arm is moveable from a collapsed configuration to an expanded configuration when the penetrating tip is advanced into tissue and the distal end of the tissue stop is urged against the tissue, wherein a distance between the proximal end of the tissue stop and the penetrating tip when the arm is in the collapsed configuration is the same as a distance between the proximal end of the tissue stop and the penetrating tip when the arm is in the expanded configuration; and a suture anchor having a suture attached thereto, the suture anchor being received in the channel distal of the proximal end of the tissue stop.