AU716632B2 - A compressive orthosis of the elastic stocking type - Google Patents

Abstract

This compressive orthosis, which comprises a compressive knitted leg part (14), is characterised in that it is essentially devoid of foot and heel and in that the leg end region comprises a resilient supporting strip (16) on the malleoli (18) provided on the skin-side surface with an antiskid coating.

Description

1 A COMPRESSIVE ORTHOSIS OF THE ELASTIC STOCKING TYPE The present invention relates to the field of compressive orthoses for one or both lower limbs, generally known as "elastic stockings"or as "elastic tights".

Although the terms "stockings" and "tights" are used below, the invention is not limited to a particular article, but applies equally well to all compressive orthoses whether in the form of tights a single garment covering both lower limbs and the abdomen up to the waist), one-legged tights (tights having one leg only for compressive support of only one lower limb), stockings (covering the thigh and the calf), or socks (covering the calf only).

To enable one or both lower limbs to be subjected to strong compression, these articles are made of elastic material, typically a knit of very fine mesh, thus giving rise to several series of difficulties.

The first difficulty, specific to all types of elastic stockings or tights, is that they are difficult to put on, in particular over the foot and the ankle, with a risk of poor placement, particularly in the vicinity of the ankle joint and the heel which are zones where they are always particularly difficult to put on.

Another difficulty comes from the fact that the bending zones (the knee, the ankle) are privileged sites for wrinkles and constrictions, which drawback is particularly serious for the strongest grades of compressive support for mesh that produces the highest pressures). Such wrinkles and constrictions give rise locally, at the joints, to pressures that are very high and that act as tourniquets at sensitive points, thereby going against the looked-for result, which is to obtain a pressure gradient that falls off progressively from the ankle to the thigh so as to facilitate venous return, which situation is achieved properly only for a -2continuous stationary standing posture (without bending any joints).

Referring in particular to the ankle, bending at this location while in the sitting position will give rise to vessels being compressed because vessels at the ankle are situated laterally (unlike vessels at the knee which pass over the rear face of the joint, in the region of the popliteal fossa), giving rise not only to discomfort, but also to the risk of inappropriate and highly uncomfortable local compression, to the appearance of edema in this zone which is particularly sensitive, etc.

It would be advantageous if at least preferred embodiments of the invention provide a compressive orthosis which remedies those various difficulties by eliminating local constrictions of S 15 the textile material, and which nevertheless retains the lookedfor therapeutic effect in full.

o The present invention provides a compressive orthosis of the elastic stockings or tights type comprising a leg portion of compressive knit, characterized in that it is essentially 20 lacking in any foot or heel portion and in that the bottom end of the leg portion includes an elastic cuff for pressing against the malleoli and provided on its face facing the skin with an antislip covering.

As explained in greater detail below, this article presents S 25 several types of advantage: medical: eliminating excess pressure at wrinkles caused by the natural movements of the ankle while nevertheless retaining the looked-for therapeutic effect (pressure decreasing progressively from the ankle over the lower limb); practical: the article is easy to put on because it does not have a foot or a heel; industrial: since there is no longer any need to knit gussets for the heel and the foot, the manufacturing process can be greatly simplified and accelerated, thereby giving rise to significant savings in terms of manufacturing costs; and a finally, comfort is considerably improved because no wrinkles are formed at the ankle.

An embodiment of the invention is described below with reference to the accompanying drawing.

Figure 1 is highly diagrammatic and shows a lower limb in two different seated positions.

Figure 2 is an overall view of the orthosis of the invention.

Figure 3 is a partially-cutaway view on a larger scale of the bottom portion of the orthosis.

Figures 4a to 4d show several variant embodiments of the antislip cuff.

020 In Figure 1, part a represents a lower limb in the seated position with the heel supported, and part b represents the lower limb in the seated position but without the heel being supported. Reference 2 designates the thigh, reference 4 the leg (in the narrow sense), reference 6 the foot, reference 8 the knee joint, and reference 10 the ankle.

In the position of Figure la, the leg and the foot are substantially perpendicular, as they are in the standing position, which corresponds to the shape for which elastic stockings or tights are designed.

In contrast, in the sitting position when the heel is unsupported (Figure lb), conventional stockings or tights give rise to a bend zone 12 constituting a privileged site for wrinkling and constrictions that are not only uncomfortable (because of the wrinkles), but TRAZ, also and above all give rise to excessive compression of I 1 4 the vessels which, as mentioned above, and unlike the knee, are situated laterally in the vicinity of the ankle thus running the risk of edema, awkwardness, and discomfort.

Figure 2 shows the article of the invention. It has a leg portion 14 made of compressive mesh of a type that is itself conventional, but it is not provided with a foot or a heel, and its ends at the bottom in a cuff 16 provided with an antislip covering that bears against the malleoli 18 of the ankle, i.e. on the bony projections.

Anatomically speaking, there is no harmful vascular compression in the zone against which the cuff 16 presses since the bundles of vessels and nerves pass along the retro-malleolar groove, thus avoiding any risk of tension or constriction in the ankle joint region.

The antislip cuff 16 prevents the bottom of the leg portion 14 from riding up (arrow 20), thus holding the stocking or tights in place during daily activity. The patient can put an ordinary sock over the foot and the ankle, or can wear the stockings or tights as leggings.

The looked-for therapeutic effect (pressure that decreases progressively from the ankle) is fully conserved, such that the therapeutic indications for elastic stockings or tights of the invention are identical to those of conventional elastic stockings or tights, in all grades of compressive support.

For manufacturing purposes, the leg portion 14 is made using a knit that is identical to those used in conventional elastic tights such as those made by Innoth~ra Topic under the registered trademark Varisma.

The materials used may be an elastane covered in cotton and polyamide, an elastane covered in polyamide but without cotton, or a mixture of elastane and elasto-diene (synthetic rubber latex) The knit is conventional, with the invention being applicable to any mesh or loop structure (weft knit, plain knit, ribbed, nipped-in or float stitch micromesh, etc.), all known per se to the person skilled in the art of knitting techniques.

The antislip cuff 16, shown in an inside view in Figure 3, is a cuff that is slightly elastic, i.e. its elasticity in the radial extension direction is less than that of the leg portion. The idea is not to compress the limb in the vicinity of the malleoli, but merely to prevent the stocking from riding up, and that is specifically what is obtained without excessive tightness of the antislip material.

This material is generally a silicone, a substance which provides good adhesion on the skin, is nonallergic, and has good lifetime. Other materials having similar properties can be used, for example latex, even though that material is, overall, more fragile than silicone.

The antislip covering can be made in various forms, shown in Figures 4a to 4d: it may comprise a uniform covering of silicone 22, longitudinal strips 24, a zigzag path 26, or spots 28. Strip materials of these types are themselves known and can be obtained, for example, from Cheynet Fils under the references Z327 (16 mm), Z342 (16 mm), or 0.5005 (15 mm).

Finally, industrially speaking, it will be observed that the manufacture of stockings or tights of the invention is greatly simplified insofar as there is no longer any need to knit gussets at the heel and of the foot.

The stockings are in the form of tubes that re slightly conical, and can therefore be knitted very quickly, thus providing considerable savings of time and of means in terms of manufacturing costs.

Naturally, numerous variants can be envisaged without going beyond the ambit of the invention in order to implement the principle of "distal adhesion" that is described above so as to enable tights to withstand the -6upward pull of the knit without it being excessively tight around the ankle.

Thus, the antislip cuff 16 maybe a strip which can be adjusted to match exactly the circumference of the patient's ankle, e.g. by means of a buckle or flap held in the desired position by a grip strip.

Similarly, the antislip cuff 16 is not necessarily constituted by a strip of material that has been fitted to the leg portion 14, but it may be constituted directly by the end thereof, being knitted in such a manner as to give it non-slip characteristics on its face facing the skin.

This can be achieved, for example, by incorporating in the knitting at this location a coarse thread of material such S• as a bare (non-covered) elastane, giving the tights a 15 rough antislip feel on the skin side at the distal end thereof In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprising" is used in the sense of "including", i.e. the features specified may be associated e with further features in various embodiments of the invention.

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Claims (2)

1. A compressive orthosis of the elastic stockings or tights type, comprising a leg portion of compressive knit, characterized in that it is essentially lacking in any foot or heel portion and in that the bottom end of the leg portion includes an elastic cuff for pressing against the malleoli and provided on its face facing the skin with an antislip covering.

2. A compressive orthosis substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying Figures. Dated this 21st December 1999 15 INNOTHERA TOPIC INTERNATIONAL SBy their Patent Attorneys *GRIFFITH HACK