This newfangled cast won't get gross in the shower

This cast allows broken arms to breathe.

published 23 October 2016

"If you made a list of things that sucked about breaking your arm, the fiberglass cast to heal you would be close to the top," said Daniel Cooper at Engadget. You can't shower with it or get at your increasingly itchy skin. But a pretzel-like sleeve designed by three University of Illinois students could make the experience of wearing a cast significantly more comfortable — and much less gross.

Unlike a traditional cast, Cast21's webbed design can get wet and leaves plenty of skin exposed, meaning patients can "scratch those itches when [they] need to." The cast is made up of a series of hollow, interconnected silicon tubes, which a doctor injects with a mixture of liquids to harden the sleeve in place. Cast21's makers are currently looking for investors to back the initial prototype and manufacturing stages, with the goal of launching patient trials by mid-2017.