Limiting the effects of a pivot point? Some help with an homemade arm brace (with pics!)

Rick Deckard

Rick Deckard

@rick-deckard-THTX6O • Oct 26, 2024
After a wrist injury I had to stop lifting weights. This was annoying so I decided to make an arm brace that would transfer the weight of a dumbbell through my forearm rather than through my hand and wrist (with the help from my local metal works). I've now got the brace and its perfect, aside from one flaw. One point on the brace acts as a pivot point concentrating the pressure in one area of my forearm. This makes lifting dumbbells very painful!



I've uploaded pictures detailing the issue with the help of some annotations and very sophisticated arrows (lol).



I was wondering if any of you guys would be able to throw a couple tips my way that might help me get past this point? Thanks a lot for any help, its very appreciated. I'll be online all of this evening to reply and work through any suggestions you have.
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  • Ramani Aswath

    Ramani Aswath

    @ramani-VR4O43 • Apr 5, 2015

    The part of the brace in contact with the fore arm is flat. It is too riigid to flex Your analysis that the load is acting at below the wrist is right. If you can contour the brace bottom to conform to your forearm shape, there will be a more uniform distribution of load. As a first step can you cut a strip of Dow Corning or other Silicone rubber foam and carve one surface to conform to the forearm shape and stick it below the brace? This would make for a larger area contact and significantly reduce the problem.
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  • Rick Deckard

    Rick Deckard

    @rick-deckard-THTX6O • Apr 6, 2015

    Brilliant suggestion, thanks A.V. Ramani. I especially appreciate passing on details regarding the materials. I will try and see how to get a hold of these. Thanks!
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