audioguy58 Love where you're going with this, but from a therapist point of view, there's a few things that just won't work the way you want them to.
audioguy58 The belt would be made of surgical stainless steel, and surgical-grade “white” polystyrene plastic.
Stainless steel is inert - it doesn't react with other substances, which is why it works so well for piercing and surgical instruments (and chastity belts). Not so the foam padding you're thinking of. It's comfortable, but it's a haven for bacteria, fungal growth and other nasty flora, even when it's treated. Throw in some nasty secretions like wee and poo, and it's just not going to work. Prosthetics and braces rarely deal with secretions other than sweat, and are hardly ever designed for permanent wear like chastity belts. You would need a lengthy hygiene release daily, and an intensive cleaning regime.
audioguy58 a rear pressure plate, sort of a “racetrack” shape, made of plastic.
Around the sacrum? The Fancy Steel-style inverted triangle would apply pressure more evenly.
audioguy58 The metal bars connecting the two plates would make only incidental contact with the wearer’s hips. All, or nearly all, of the pressure on the wearer’s body would come from the front and back.
I get what you mean, but unfortunately this won't work (and is actually a terrible idea). You can't hang weight off soft tissue. If you're thinking like when you're wearing a backpack, the weight needs to be suspended off the skeletal structure. The sacrum will work, but the hips still need to take most of the weight. The only other option for taking weight off the hips is suspending it from above, ie. a shoulder suspension(!). Corsets, body braces and even backpacks are all designed to sit on the hips, and upper body devices almost always use the hips for stability.
Orthotic designs rarely deal with the pelvic structure below the hips. If you're stabilising the pelvis you're generally seeing a surgeon and using pins, in which case you've got some other very serious issues you need to be thinking about!
I'll spare you the details but pelvic movement is incredibly complex. For this reason I'm a fan of cable belts, because they allow for more natural movement. If I could improve on them I would create a wider, more ergonomic shield, perhaps using a steel mesh that allows for rotation and pelvic tilt without pinching.
I'm not a huge fan of the current single cable design on the hips, I think several parallel cables would help spread the weight more evenly around the torso. Pinching could be negated with a flat mesh shield around the torso, or with a super comfy plastic body brace like @audioguy58 mentioned.
Got lots more ideas but from an OT point of view movement is key, for comfort the belt needs to conform to natural movement or else it's always going to be uncomfortable at some point of the day.
