Therapeutic appliance for the wrist
AssigneeSafeguard Industrial Corporation
InventorsPeter R. Sebastian, Thomas V. Sebastian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A therapeutic appliance designed to provide support to the wrist and limit motion of the wrist to prevent repetitive movements of large amplitude felt to be a causative mechanism in injury to the median nerve within the carpal tunnel and other structures of thie region. The appliance includes a series of interconnected air chambers aligned in parallel on the dorsal, lateral and medial surface of the device, a valve mechanism through which air is pumped into chambers by means of a hand-held bulb, a semi-rigid non-metallic member on the dorsal surface of the device, and elastic strap closures on the volar surface of the device and an elastic strap wrapping around the thumb.
Claims14
An appliance for providing therapeutic immobilization of a person's wrist, said appliance comprising:
- a base extending in a longitudinal direction and having opposed ends spaced apart in said longitudinal direction,
- said base of such a size as to be placed over a person's wrist;
- means for removably attaching said ends together such that the base can be positioned around a person's wrist;
- an air bladder supported on said base, said air bladder having opposed terminal ends spaced apart in said longitudinal direction and at least one air chamber to provide support to the wrist when said base is positioned around the wrist and said air bladder is inflated,
- each of said at least one air chamber being located on said base between said opposed terminal ends of said air bladder,
- said opposed terminal ends of said air bladder being spaced apart from one another a predetermined distance when said attaching means removably attaches said ends of said base together, said distance being such that the appliance is removably securable to the person's wrist in a position at which the air chambers of said air bladder do not cover the median nerve and avoid exerting pressure on the median nerve when said air bladder is inflated;
- and
- air conduit means communicating with said air bladder for allowing air to pass through said conduit means to said air bladder to inflate said air bladder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.