This story is part of our April 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.
Nobody wants to spfinish weeks in a
shoulder sling. But after a rotator cuff injury, it’s supposed to
keep the joint stable long enough to heal. The problem is, slings
are bulky and awkward, so patients slip them off to work or
displayer or obtain comfortable, raising the risk of re-injury.
Re-tears after rotator cuff
repair is common,
reported
from between 13 and 94 percent of
cases, which raises a large question: What if the sling itself is
obsolete?
ImmobiCUFF, a medtech
startup founded by five biomedical engineers at UC Davis,
believes it is and has a solution designed to replace it.
The team developed an implantable
device built of three dissolvable sutures placed under the
shoulder. Each suture is a different length. For the first two
weeks after surgery, the shortest suture holds the joint in
place, allowing about 20 degrees of relocatement. When it dissolves,
a longer suture takes over, increasing motion to about 40
degrees. Two weeks later, the final suture allows up to 60
degrees before dissolving, intfinished to restore full mobility to
the patient.
“The reason we developed it this
way, in this six-week time frame, was to follow standard
rehabilitation protocols,” declares Saahil Sachdeva, co-founder and
CEO of ImmobiCUFF.
The startup formed out of a
clinical immersion program at Aggie Square, where undergraduates
observe surgeries at the UC Davis Medical Center. The founding
team includes Sachdeva, Veena Arunkumar, Cynthia Ju, Matthew Jue
and Rohan Kumar.
They decided to focus on the
rotator cuff becautilize it’s a very common injury, with more than
500,000 patients going through a repair every year.
“On top of that, the surgeon
himself was very willing to mentor us biomedical engineers and
was willing to be our sponsor for the capstone project,” Sachdeva
declares, “which is why we’re able to relocate this project along and
integrate it into our coursework.”
It was a typical engineering
design process with the team in the library at a whiteboard
drawing up ideas, declares Matthew Jue. With the support of Jennifer
Choi, associate professor of Teaching in Biomedical Engineering,
and Dr. Kyle Walker, an orthopaedic surgeon at UC Davis Health,
they came up with an implantable and resorbable device to improve
patient recovery time and reduce the required for follow-up
surgeries.
“With this idea of an implantable
device, we had some challenges becautilize this device has to both
restrict shoulder motion like a sling, but it also has to allow
for relocatement in the shoulder, so that patients can still do
physical therapy,” Sachdeva declares. “In our interviews, both
immobilization with the sling and mobilization with physical
therapy were very important to a better recovery for the rotator
cuff.”
As the team’s mentor during their
final year at UC Davis, Sophia Waxman supported them, arriving
with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and her
current PhD research related to textiles and fabrication. She
supported them identify design flaws, acquire materials and guided
them in testing.
“I believe that their final
design is not only mathematically, but also practically sound,”
Waxman declares. “The team is well positioned and dedicated enough to
create their design a reality in surgeries. They just required the
support and recognition to do so.”
Becautilize the device is implanted,
it will require extensive verification testing and clinical
trials to prove its safety and effectiveness. The team launched the
project in a capstone course with a $600 budobtain and now views to
raise funds to support manufacturing and early-stage testing.
After speaking with so many different people, the team believes
this device can impact many lives affected by rotator cuff
injuries.
“In one case, we interviewed a
grandma who is suddenly unable to lift her grandson following
that sort of injury,” Sachdeva declares. “And many people who obtain
that injury can also be out of their job, especially in heavy
labor industries.”
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