Shoulder brace
OwnerThomas A. Colemaninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A shoulder brace having an elastic web that is anchored to provide tension to force and guide the humerus upward along its longitudinal axis into the glenoid fossa. The brace restricts elevation of the humerus and opposes both anterior and posterior rotation of the humerus. The brace provides a guided tension force to the humerus along its longitudinal axis, and that force is provided perpendicular to the medial (anterior/posterior) plane and circumferentially around (360.degree.) the humerus axis. Specifically, the elastic web comprises a sleeve region and a shoulder region connected to the sleeve region. In use, the anchors tense the shoulder region inferiorly and medially and tense the sleeve region longitudinally along the arm away from the shoulder.
Claims9
A shoulder brace for treating a dislocated shoulder, said brace being effective to force the humerus into the glenoid fossa, said brace comprising:
- (a) a web having a first web region sized and positioned to extend around the circumference of at least a portion of the deltoid-bicep region of the upper arm of a user, a second web region extending along the arm from the first web region toward a third web region sized and positioned to extend over the top of the shoulder of the user, each said web region comprising two-way stretch elastic;
- and
- (b) a first anchor attached to said third web region and extending therefrom across the chest, and a second anchor attached to the rear of said third web region and extending therefrom across the users back, said anchors being adapted in use to apply tension to said web to pull said first web region away from said third region and to pull both anterior and posterior portions of said third web region inferiorly and medially, thereby creating force circumferentially around the longitudinal axis of the humerus guiding the humerus upward into the glenoid fossa, thus restricting elevation of the humerus beyond horizontal and restricting anterior and posterior rotation of the humerus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.