Shoulder braces and methods of use
AssigneeDerek Nolt
InventorsDerek Nolt, Bryce Borgel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A shoulder brace has: a support structure; strap retractors such as flat spiral torsion springs mounted to the support structure; and left and right shoulder straps each having a first strap part connected to the support structure and a second strap part connected to a free end of a respective spiral torsion spring. A method has the following stages: positioning a support structure against a user's upper back; looping left and right shoulder straps around a user's left and right shoulders, respectively; and in which each of the left and right shoulder straps connects to the support structure via a strap retractor, such as a spiral torsion spring for applying tension through the respective left or right shoulder strap to pull the user's shoulders back.
Claims20
A shoulder brace comprising:
- a support structure;
- a plurality of flat spiral torsion springs mounted to the support structure;
- and
- left and right shoulder straps each having a first strap part connected to the support structure and a second strap part connected to a free end of a respective flat spiral torsion spring.
A method comprising:
- positioning a support structure against a user's upper back, the support structure having a plurality of spiral torsion springs;
- looping left and right shoulder straps around a user's left and right shoulders, respectively;
- and
- in which each of the left and right shoulder straps connects to the support structure via a respective spiral torsion spring for applying tension through the respective left or right shoulder strap to pull the user's shoulders back.
A shoulder brace comprising:
- a housing;
- strap retractors mounted within the housing;
- left and right shoulder straps each having a first strap part, a second strap part, and a torque adjuster, in each first strap is connected to the housing, each second strap part passes through a respective strap port in the housing to connect to a respective strap retractor, and each torque adjuster is between the first strap part and the second strap part for adjusting the length of the second strap part between the torque adjuster and the respective strap retractor;
- and
- in which the shoulder brace is configured to have a pre-torqued neutral position where each torque adjuster seats against the respective strap port and applies a non-zero tension to the respective strap retractor through the respective second strap part.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.