Patent ID: 8617216

Claim:
An orthopedic stabilization system to attach a spinal rod to vertebrae, comprising: a bone attachment means, including: a spherical cup member forming one end of said bone attachment means; and a bone interface member that is integral to said spherical cup member and forms the other end of said bone attachment means, and attaches to the vertebrae; a post means including a spherical ball member forming one end of said post means, and interfaces with said spherical cup member to form a ball joint arrangement; and a post member forming the other end of said post means, the post having a post height; wherein: said spherical ball member includes a plurality of ball fingers that define a plurality of ball slots; and an interior of said post means defines an internal tapered slot; a tapered locking member positioned within the interior of said post means and mating structurally to said internal tapered slot; wherein, said tapered locking member includes a mating tapered locking member at the tapered end and an integral threaded shaft at the other end, and with said mating tapered locking member positioned within said spherical ball member; a nut positioned proximally on said integral threaded shaft, external and juxtaposed to said post means; and a connector means to attach the spinal rod to said post member, the connector means having a connector height less than the post height such that the connector means can be positioned in a plurality of positions along the post height to provide a variable height adjustment between the spinal rod and bone attachment means.