EP2250913A1

EP2250913A1 - Protective sports garment

Info

Publication number: EP2250913A1
Application number: EP09006318A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Juan Manuel Aloy Font
Original assignee: Aloy Font Juan Manuel
Current assignee: Colibri1 SL
Priority date: 2009-05-11
Filing date: 2009-05-11
Publication date: 2010-11-17
Anticipated expiration: 2029-05-11
Also published as: EP2250913B1; ATE539629T1; US20100281593A1; PT2250913E; PL2250913T3; ES2381736T3; DK2250913T3

Abstract

The present invention relates to a protective trouser-type sports garment, which is made of an elastic fabric both in the longitudinal direction and in the transverse direction, and comprises respective longitudinal reinforcements both in the front part of the garment (6) intended to act on the quadriceps muscles and in the rear part (4) of said garment, intended to act on the hamstring muscles, extending on both front and rear faces from the waist (2) and on both legs to the area slightly above the knee of the user, both reinforcements (4, 6) having considerable elasticity in the longitudinal direction and another elasticity in the transverse direction.

Description

Object of the Invention

The present invention makes reference to a protective sports garment, more specifically to a type of trouser for preventing tears, injuries in the hamstring and quadriceps muscles.

Background of the Invention

The quadriceps muscle is the strongest and largest muscle of the entire body, supporting the weight of the body and allowing walking, sitting and running; it is located on the front of the femur. In turn, the so-called hamstrings make up a muscle group located in the rear part of the thigh.
Injuries in these muscles normally occur due to an elongation (stretching a muscle beyond its stretching capacity) or a contraction (due to an effort greater than the biological capacity of resistance to strain). On occasions, these injuries generally cause a muscular tear of inner fibers of the muscle accompanied by the rupture of the blood vessels in the affected muscle, causing an intense needle-like pain which prevents contracting the affected muscle. Therefore, most of these tearing injuries happen when practicing sports, especially those which require performing sudden acceleration and speed movements, such as tennis, football, basketball and others; it is also common for them to be caused by temporally exceeding when doing exercises, beyond fatigue, when strains are continued to be made. Once the injury has occurred it is mainly treated by means of total rest and measures to prevent inflammation and swelling in the affected part.
A preventive solution against said muscular tears consists of using neuromuscular compression bandages around the thigh and the nearby bone structures, providing resistance to the stretching of the muscle, compressing it more or less constantly. One of these techniques is referred to as kinesiotaping which requires the use of elastic adhesive strips applied on the skin before practicing a sport and removed once said practice of the sport has ended. This represents a considerable use of strips and bandage material which are put on by a specialist, preferably a physiotherapist, requiring time and new strips for each use. Moreover, these bandages can fall or move in contact sports.

Description of the Invention

The protective sports garment object of this invention has technical particularities intended to prevent the tearing of quadriceps and hamstring muscles as well as to improve the recovery of the user in the event of injury.
According to the invention, the sports garment is formed by trousers with an upper waist and two lower tubular extensions, like legs, being made of an elastic fabric, both in a longitudinal direction and in a transverse direction; and said garment comprising:

a) longitudinal reinforcements in the front part intended to act on the quadriceps muscles, extending from the waist to the area slightly above the knee of the user, having considerable elasticity in the longitudinal direction and another different elasticity in the transverse direction.
b) longitudinal reinforcements in the rear part intended to act on the hamstring muscles, extending from the waist towards the area slightly above the knee, also having considerable longitudinal elasticity and another different transverse elasticity.

This allows the sportsperson to keep the leg compressed as if he/she wore a neuromuscular bandage or the so-called kinesiotaping, with the reinforcements applied directly on the mentioned quadriceps and hamstring muscles which are to be protected and the garment being held firmly and tightly against the body contour of the sportsperson. The longitudinal elasticity of the reinforcement allows the correct stretching of these muscles, but different transverse elasticity suitably compresses said muscles while doing exercise.
To achieve a better adaptation to the shape of these muscles, the previous reinforcements have an elongated configuration going from the height of the waist to slightly above the knee, and they have a larger width in the intermediate area than at the ends, acquiring a centrally widened shape, whereas the rear reinforcements are branched in their lower part, having an inverted Y configuration, with two inclined sections which are directed to the sides, suitable for surrounding the rear part of the thigh of the user, suitably and anatomically distributing the pressure.
In an embodiment of the invention the reinforcements are formed by additional pieces of fabric permanently fixed to the garment by heat welding, sewing, gluing or another system or manner. It is now also possible and preferred that the reinforcements, which have elasticity in the longitudinal direction than in the transverse direction and are located both in the front and rear part, are formed from the actual fabric of the garment or another fabric.
The garment thus formed is easy to put on, like conventional sports trousers, and provides protection immediately, preventing the drawbacks of the neuromuscular bandage or the specific technique such as the technique known as kinesiotaping. Furthermore the garment is easily washed and therefore reusable, unlike the use of bandages and the like.

Description of the Drawings

To complement the description being made and for the purpose of helping to understand the features of the invention, a set of drawings is attached to the present specification in which the following has been shown with an illustrative and non-limiting character:

Figure 1 shows a front elevation view of the garment.
Figure 2 depicts a rear elevation view of the garment.
Figure 3 shows a rear elevation view of the garment sectioned by a vertical plane to allow observing the reinforcements arranged in the inner face of the front part of the garment.
Figure 4 shows a front elevation view of the garment sectioned by a vertical plane to allow observing the reinforcements arranged in the inner face of the rear part of the garment.

Preferred Embodiment of the Invention

In the example shown the protective sports garment (1) is formed like trousers, having an upper waist (2) for passing the torso of the user and two legs (3) which, when referring to shorts, have a length reaching a little above the knee, although it can also refer to long trousers in which the leg reaches the ankle or an area close to it. The garment (1) is generally made of an elastic fabric, i.e., in a longitudinal direction and in a transverse direction, for the purpose of being adapted to the contour of the body of the user and offering certain compression.
A pair of longitudinal reinforcements (4) is arranged in the rear part of the garment (1), extending from the waist (2) to the lower end (3) forming the legs; when referring to shorts such as that depicted in the figure, and in any case, to the mid-thigh, slightly above the knee. Each of these reinforcements (4) has a flat inverted Y configuration with two inclined sections (5) in the lower part thereof which are directed towards the opposite sides of the leg (3) in an arrangement for surrounding the rear part of the thigh of the user towards the side part thereof.
Longitudinal reinforcements (6) are located in the front part of the garment (1), extending from the waist (2) to the area slightly above the knee of the user. These reinforcements are intended to act on the quadriceps muscles of the sportsperson.
Both the front reinforcements (6) and the rear reinforcements (4) have considerable longitudinal elasticity and another different elasticity in the transverse direction, which causes the tightening thereof on the quadriceps and hamstring muscles, respectively.
The reinforcements (4, 6) are arranged in the inner face of the garment (1) and fixed by fastening means, in this case by means of heat welding, on the entire surface thereof to assure the correct tension of the fibers of the garment (1) and the adaptation and compression on the body of the sportsperson user. In a preferred embodiment, said reinforcements (4, 6) can be formed by the same fabric forming the garment or another fabric.
Having sufficiently described the nature of the invention as well as a preferred embodiment, it is hereby stated for all relevant purposes that the materials, shape, size and arrangement of the elements described can be modified provided it does not involve altering the essential features of the invention which are claimed below.

Claims

A protective trouser-type sports garment provided with an upper waist (2) for passing the torso of the user and two longer or shorter lower legs, depending on the size and the configuration of the short or long trousers, for introducing and housing the legs and more specifically the thighs, which is made of an elastic fabric both in the longitudinal direction and in the transverse direction, and characterised in that it comprises:
a) longitudinal reinforcements (6) in the front part of the garment intended to act on the quadriceps muscles, extending from the waist (2) to the area slightly above the knee of the user, having considerable elasticity in the longitudinal direction and another different elasticity in the transverse direction;

b) longitudinal reinforcements (4) in the rear part of the garment (1) intended to act on the hamstring muscles, extending from the waist (2) towards the area slightly above the knee and downwardly opening, like an inverted Y, with two side sections (5) which are directed towards the opposite sides of the leg (3) to surround the rear part of the thigh of the user, having considerable longitudinal elasticity and another transverse elasticity.
The garment according to claim 1, characterised in that the reinforcements (6) intended to act on the quadriceps muscles have an elongated configuration, arranged in the inner area of the garment and going from the height of the waist to slightly above the knee, and they have a larger width in the intermediate area than at the ends.
The garment according to claim 1, characterised in that the reinforcements (4, 6) are formed by additional pieces of fabric permanently fixed to the fabric forming the garment.
The garment according to claim 1, characterised in that the reinforcements (4, 6) having greater elasticity in the longitudinal direction and another elasticity in the transverse direction are formed from the actual fabric forming the garment.