Patent ID: 8840647

Claim:
A method for augmenting a spinal facet of a spinal column, the method comprising the steps of: providing a first plate and a second plate and an elastomeric member secured between and to the first plate and the second plate and extending along an axis that is parallel to a greatest dimension of the first plate and parallel to an axis of the spinal column extending in a cephalocaudal direction, the first and second plates being spaced entirely from the axis of the elastomeric member; placing a fastener through an opening in the first plate to secure the first plate to a first vertebra overlying the native facet of the first vertebra; and securing the second plate to a second vertebra overlying the native facet of the second vertebra such that an axis extending solely in an anterior-posterior direction intersects the first plate, the second plate, and the elastomeric member and such that no part of the first plate, the second plate, and the elastomeric member extends within the facet joint, the second vertebra being adjacent the first vertebra such that the first plate and the second plate mimic natural articulation between the first and second vertebrae.