Anti-embolism stocking aid

Apparatus for facilitating the donning of a compressive medical stocking comprising:

• a) an elongated channel member having a curved base, upwardly extending side walls and opposite open ends defining a substantially U-shaped transverse cross section along its length;
• b) the first of said open ends being the toe end and adapted to receive thereover a compressive medical stocking and the second of said ends being the heel end, the U-shaped cross section at said heel and being a much greater area than at said toe and;
• c) said U-shaped channel member having a width and depth to substantially receive therein a foot of a wearer by whom said stocking will be donned;
• d) said upwardly extending side walls each terminating in a longitudinally extending edge containing an irregular, generally serrated segment positioned along substantially the full length of each said edge intermediate the ends of said side walls;
• e) said serrations of said segment being adapted with rounded peaks and valleys forming a slidable surface for receiving said compressive medical stocking thereover,
• f) said channel member being composed of a material having a thickness that gives said channel member a stiffness so that it substantially retains its U-shaped transverse cross section along its length when a compressive medical stocking is fully disposed thereon;
• and
• g) a handle device attached to said side walls adjacent said heel end and near the longitudinal edges, that is adopted to pull said elongated channel member over said foot and upwardly on the leg of said individual so that said compressive medical stocking is progressively pulled off of said side walls over said serrated segments, one segment at a time as the stocking pays out from the toe end and is thereby donned by said foot and leg.