US Patent 7763048 Flexible vertebral linking device

A flexible intervertebral linking device (1) is provided. The device (1) utilizes two sets of structures. A first structure (11) is a rigid structure (110, 112, 114, 116) preferably made of biocompatible metallic materials providing the device with good mechanical resistance by integral load transmission without deformation. A second structure (12) is a flexible or damping structure (121 and 122) made of biocompatible viscoelastic materials, permitting repeated elastic deformations. The combination of the two structures providing the device with both resistance and mechanical dampening of forces to which it is subjected, to compensate for any deficiency in the flexibility of certain anatomical links of the human body.