US 4,378,009 AGranted

Brace for injured parts of the body

AssigneeDonald Rowley

InventorsDonald Rowley, Sheldon Perlman

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Abstract

An elongated, elastic tube provides a brace for wrapping about a person's knee or other part of the body. The brace is wrapped about the knee in a criss-cross fashion wherein four diagonal members intersect at four points surrounding the knee cap, i.e., top, bottom and each side. The brace is held in place by tape, VELCRO or other fastening means, and may be solid or inflated with air or another suitable fluid until a comfortable, protective pressure is reached within the elongated tube. When properly positioned and filled, the brace supports the knee or other body member, and also provides a protective cover which withstands otherwise injurious impacts. The basic wrap may be incorporated into a single unit having a criss-cross wrap outline integrally formed and adapted to be wrapped in a single unit.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A brace for supporting an injured portion of a person's body, the improvement comprising:

flexible means;
said flexible means comprising means for wrapping about a portion of the body and having means for fastening to secure the flexible means in place;
said flexible means comprising an elastic member for stretching to thereby provide a holding force for securing the flexible means in place and to securely hold the injured portion in place for healing;
wrapped means having means encircling the body at two points adjacent the injured portion
said flexible means comprising a sheet having integrally formed tube means;
said integrally formed tube means providing upper and lower wrap tubes;
diagonal means having means extending to interconnect the wrapped means encircling the body and with means intersecting one another;
said means intersecting providing support points and concentrated forces for holding the body in position for healing;
diagonal members formed integrally with the flexible means and extending to interconnect the upper and lower wrap tubes in a diagonal fashion whereby the diagonal means criss-cross and intersect to provide points of reinforcement for treating the injured portion of the body during healing.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.