Guard for protecting painter's thumb

A method of protecting tissues of the thumb and hand while a person holds a paint bucket having a bail and comprising:

• providing tubular, tapered body formed of flexible, resilient material, said body defining a tapered, open-ended, thumb-receiving passageway having a relatively large open end and an opposed, smaller open end, defined in part by oppositely inclined, overlapping, interconnected end segments joined to a central segment, said body configured to generally complementally receive a person's thumb so that when placed on a thumb bypassing the thumb into said passageway through said relatively large open end;
• inserting a thumb to be protected into said passageway through the large open end thereof;
• and
• orienting said body with respect to said thumb with portions of the body in generally covering protecting relationship to the metacarpophalangeal joint of the thumb to protect the thumb and said joint from undue stresses while the user holds a bucket with the thumb hooked under the bail of the bucket.

A thumb guard for protecting a person's thumb while the individual holds a bucket provided with a swingable bail, said guard comprising an elongated strap of flexible, resilient material presenting a body having a central segment and a pair of opposed end segments integral with the central segment, said end segments being folded together in oppositely inclined overlapping relationship and interconnected to define a tapered, open ended passageway having a relatively large open end and an opposed smaller open end, said guard being configured to generally complementally accept a user's thumb by passing the thumb into said passageway through said relatively large open end in an orientation such that a portion of the body covers the metacarpophalangeal joint area of the thumb to protect such area from excessive force when the user holds a bucket with fingers under the bucket and the thumb is positioned beneath the bail to stabilize the bucket, said strap being sufficiently flexible such that the overlapping, interconnected end segments of the guard may be folded back so that when the guard is placed over a user's thumb by passing the thumb into said passageway through the larger end of the guard with the folded back portion of the body oriented adjacent the joint and thumb pad of a person's thumb, the guard protects the portion of the thumb pad of a user's thumb underlying the double folded portion of the guard from excessive stress while the user holds a bucket with fingers engaging the bucket and the thumb is hooked over the bail.