CA2990365C - Compression shorts - Google Patents

Abstract

A lower-body garment includes a front portion to contact a front lower-body region of a subject, and a rear portion to contact a rear lower-body region of the subject. A plurality of fabric strips oriented in spiral diagonal configurations on the front and rear of the garment to reduce movement in certain areas of the subject's body. The strips are attached to each other on the front and rear portions by multiple oblique, vertical, and concave seams.

Description

Page 1 of 6

2,990,365 COMPRESSION SHORTS
Inventor: Vishal Puni, Montreal (CA) Appl. No: 2,990,365 Filed: Dec. 27, 2017 Description TITLE
[0001] COMPRESSION SHORTS
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present invention relates to garments, and more particularly to garments known generally in the art as compression shorts.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Compression shorts are garments worn by individuals for a variety of purposes, but are primarily worn by active individuals and athletes participating in sports activities.
Essentially, compression shorts serve as a type of lower body girdle, providing compressive support to several areas of the wearer's body, including the hips, pelvis, thighs, groin, abdomen and back areas. Compression shorts are often used by individuals during sports activities to reduce muscle fatigue, improve thermoregulation by wicking perspiration away from the body, and maintaining muscle warmth to reduce the potential for muscle strains.
These garments may be worn by individuals as a preventative measure, or to provide additional support for areas weakened by injury.

[0004] Compression shorts are often manufactured using stretchable or elastomeric fabrics such as nylon, polyester, LycraTM and SpandexTM. Typically, compression shorts are constructed such that this elastomeric fabric is placed in tension when the shorts are pulled onto the wearer's body, thereby providing some degree of compressive support for the wearer. The particular part of the body receiving this compressive support depends upon the nature of the construction of the garment.

[0005] Simple shorts, although capable of providing some general level of compression to portions of a user's body, generally do not target such compression to a particular Date Recue/Date Received 2020-08-10 Page 2 of 6 2,990,365 area of the wearer's body and not to others; rather, they simply "squeeze"
whatever portion of the body the fabric overlies.

[0006] Further, such shorts do not necessarily provide resistance to undesired ranges of movement. They do not provide any specific resistance to certain unidirectional and multidirectional motions. In many instances, limiting certain muscle and joint actions is very important when one is trying to heal from an injury such as a hip sprain, osteitis pubis, or groin strain. Other prior art shorts have attempted to address disorders of the hips by adding various straining straps or fabric panels. Examples of shorts using straining straps or fabric panels are U.S. Patent No. 6,430,752 and published U.S.
Patent Application 2010/0281593.
However, these shorts do not effectively limit certain muscle and joint actions for the legs, hips, and pelvis.

[0007] To prevent or treat hip injuries, special wrapping or taping techniques to limit joint and muscle motions have been used for years in sports medicine. These wrapping or taping techniques must be performed by persons possessing special skills and knowledge, and for hygienic reasons may only be used for short durations.

[0008] Until now there has not been a single garment that reproduces the leg, hip, and pelvis anatomy to provide specific unidirectional and multidirectional support to both muscle and joint action. There remains a pressing need for compression shorts which are constructed to provide not only general compressive forces to the areas of the body covered by the shorts, but also to provide specific extra forces to certain areas of the body to limit certain undesired joint movements and muscle activities in the hips, legs, and pelvis.
Specifically, a better lower body garment is needed for the prevention and treatment of hip instabilities, osteitis pubis, muscle weakness and strains, pelvis and abdominal muscle injuries, as well as for improving postural control.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] It is an object of the present invention to design compression shorts that may create compression to specific areas of the wearer's lower body.

[0010] The present application may provide more specific compressive protection to a wearer's lower body than that provided by prior art shorts. The compression shorts are constructed of multiple strips of material sewn together to form the shorts.
These strips may be oriented primarily in spiral, diagonal configurations, which have been determined to be particularly helpful in stabilizing, to some extent, a wearer's hip, leg, and pelvis, in addition to supporting the wearer's groin, back, and abdominal areas.

[0011] More particularly, the compression shorts have a front portion, a rear portion, and sleeve portions, with all these portions attached to one another at multiple front, rear, and oblique seams. Like most traditional shorts, the compression shorts have a Date Recue/Date Received 2020-08-10 Page 3 of 6 2,990,365 waistband encircling the upper edges of the front and the rear portions, as well as cuffs formed at the lower edge of the sleeve portions. Unlike traditional shorts, the compression shorts may also contain two sleeve portions on each side, attached in between by a gusset, as well as a waistband. Seams attaching the sleeve portions to the front and the rear portions of the shorts may run in a spiral, diagonal direction from the waistband down to the inside portion of the shorts. This is in contrast to other shorts in which the sleeve portions of the front and the rear portions of the shorts are attached by vertical seams extending from the waistband down the outside of the sleeves, as well as vertical seams on the inside of each sleeve which meet in the midline of the shorts in the crotch area.

[0012] Two groups of fabric strips extend from the inside seam of the lower portion of the sleeves of the shorts and wrap around the rear of the sleeves as they spiral diagonally upwards across the front portion of the shorts, while two groups of fabric strips extend laterally in a diagonal upwards direction across the upper portion of the rear of the shorts, and one group of fabric forms a gusset in the crotch area of the shorts extending between the front and the rear portions of the shorts thereby attaching the sleeves.

[0013] The waistband and cuffs serve to keep the compression shorts positioned correctly on the wearer's body.

[0014] The seams of the compression shorts serve as anchor points for the fabric strips.
The waistband and cuffs reinforce the positioning of the anchor points, and thus the positioning of the strips, on the wearer's body. The seams may be made of thread.

[0015] The fabric strips extend diagonally from the inside seam of the right and the left sleeves of the garment at an upwards angle relative to the vertical centerline on the front and the rear portions between the waistband and the gusset. The angle, width, and size of the strips serve to compress different muscle groups and portions of the wearer's lower body.

[0016] The unique orientation and configuration of the fabric strips used in the construction of the compression shorts may provide specific compressive support to a wearer's hip, leg, groin, and pelvis areas.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] In drawings which illustrate specific embodiments of the invention, but which should not be construed as restricting the spirit or scope of the invention in any way:

[0018] FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of compression shorts according to the invention.

[0019] FIG. 2 illustrates a front view of FIG. 1.

[0020] FIG. 3 illustrates a rear view of FIG. 1.

[0021] FIG. 4 illustrates a right side view of FIG. 1.
Date Recue/Date Received 2020-08-10 Page 4 of 6 2,990,365

[0022] FIG. 5 illustrates a left side view of FIG. 1.

[0023] FIG. 6 illustrates a top view of FIG. 1; and,

[0024] FIG. 7 illustrates a bottom view of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] Throughout the following description, specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the invention. However, the invention may be practiced without these particulars. In other instances, well known elements have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention.
Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative, rather than restrictive, sense.
Further, throughout the drawings, the words "right" and "left" are used in the sense of the wearer of the garment. Thus, the right side of the garment as worn is on the left side as viewed in the illustrated drawing. The "left" side of the garment as worn is on the right side as viewed in the illustrated drawing.

[0026] Referring first to FIG. 1, one embodiment of the compression shorts configured in accordance with the principles of the present invention is denoted generally herein by the numeral "22". Shorts 22 is constructed using five fabric strips, of which the right and the left oblique portions 1, 2 respectively form the majority of the front portion while the right and the left oblique portions 4, 5 respectively form the majority of the rear portion, and a gusset portion 3 extending between the front and the rear portions.
Right front and right rear portions 1, 4 respectively are attached to one another at right oblique seam 6. Left front and left rear portions 2, 5 respectively are attached to one another at left oblique seam 7. Right and left oblique seams 6, 7 respectively are shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.
Right and left front oblique portions 1, 2 respectively are attached at vertical seam 10.
Right and left front oblique portions 1, 2 respectively are attached to the front of gusset portion 3 at concave seam 8.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 3, the right and left rear oblique portions 4, 5 respectively are attached at vertical seam 11.
Right and left rear oblique portions 4, 5 respectively are attached to the rear of gusset portion 3 at concave seam 9.

[0028] The shorts 22 have a waistband 14 which encircles the upper edges of front portions 1,2, and rear portions 4, 5, and right cuff 12 and left cuff 13 formed by the lower edges of right and left oblique portions 1, 2 respectively.

[0029] The inventor has determined that strips 1, 2 shall extend diagonally in an upwards spiral manner across the front portions of the shorts at an angle relative to the vertical centerline between waistband 14 and gusset 3, and strips 4, 5 shall extend diagonally across the rear portions of the shorts at an angle relative to the vertical Date Recue/Date Received 2020-08-10 Page 5 of 6 2,990,365 centerline between waistband 14 and gusset 3.

[0030] As shown throughout the figures, shorts 22 have a right sleeve formed by the lower edge of the right oblique portion 1 terminating with cuff 12 and a left sleeve formed by the lower edge of the left oblique portion 2 terminating with cuff 13. Each of the sleeves formed by portions 1, 2 respectively may generally be configured to extend at least partially down the leg of the wearer.

[0031] In a preferred embodiment, the various fabric strips are connected together by seams made of thread. The waistband and cuffs reinforce the positioning of the strips on the wearer's body.

[0032] Compression shorts are described which provide specific compression to certain areas of a wearer's lower body.
Compression is applied to the wearer's lower body via the strips of fabric.
The strips may be oriented in diagonal, oblique, and/or horizontal configurations across the shorts.

[0033] As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the aforementioned claims.
Date Recue/Date Received 2020-08-10

Claims (3)

Claims (3) WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A lower-body compression garment constructed by assembling: a plurality of five (5) separate, non-overlapping fabric strips having edges connected together by six (6) seams to form the garment which has a front, a rear, a gusset, and a right and a left leg sleeve each representing a respective hip region that transitions between the front and the rear of the garment, the garment having oblique seams, wherein the plurality of fabric strips include:
a) a first strip comprising a single fabric section that begins at an inside seam of a lower portion of the right sleeve and wraps around the rear of said sleeve, extending diagonally upwards across the front portion of the garment terminating at a front vertical midline seam and a waistband;
b) a second strip comprising a single fabric section that begins at an inside seam of a lower portion of the left sleeve and wraps around the rear of said sleeve, extending diagonally upwards across the front portion of the garment terminating at the front vertical midline seam and the waistband, wherein the first strip and the second strip attach to each other on the front of the garment at the front vertical midline seam;
c) a third strip comprising a single fabric section that begins on the rear portion of the garment at a gusset seam and an oblique seam of the right sleeve, extending laterally in a diagonal upwards direction across an upper portion of the rear of the garment, terminating at a front upper portion of said oblique seam and the waistband;
d) a fourth strip comprising a single fabric section that begins on the rear portion of the garment at the gusset seam and an oblique seam of the left sleeve, extending laterally in a diagonal upwards direction across the upper portion of the rear of the garment, terminating at the front upper portion of said oblique seam and the waistband, wherein the third strip and the fourth strip attach to each other on the rear of the garment at a rear vertical midline seam;
e) a fifth strip comprising a single fabric section forming the gusset in a crotch area of the garment attaching the inside portions of the leg sleeves, extending between the front and the rear portions of the garment.

2. The lower-body compression garment of claim 1, further comprising:
a) the waistband encircling the upper edges of the front and the rear portions of the garment wherein the right leg sleeve is constructed from a single fabric section having the right inside seam wherein the upper portion of said sleeve extends from the waistband, attaching at the gusset, and terminates at the lower edge of said sleeve forming a right cuff;
b) the left leg sleeve is constructed from a single fabric section having the left inside seam wherein the upper portion of said sleeve extends from the waistband, attaching at the gusset, and terminates at the lower edge of said sleeve forming a left cuff, wherein the right and the left leg sleeves extend at least partially down the leg of the wearer.

3. The lower-body compression garment of claim 1, wherein the first, the second, the third, and the fourth strip of fabric all extend diagonally at an angle relative to the vertical midline seams on the front and the rear of the garment.