Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47C—CHAIRS; SOFAS; BEDS
  • A47C16/00—Stand-alone rests or supports for feet, legs, arms, back or head
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47C—CHAIRS; SOFAS; BEDS
  • A47C20/00—Head -, foot -, or like rests for beds, sofas or the like
  • A47C20/02—Head -, foot -, or like rests for beds, sofas or the like of detachable or loose type
  • A47C20/026—Supports for lying in a prone position

Definitions

• the present invention pertains to a body support for a user intended for use wherein the user rests on the stomach.
• the invention pertains to such body support intended for use wherein the user utilizes a handheld medium, and/or where the user supports his or her own head using a hand or hands.
• a body support according to the present invention provides that a person and user of the body support maintains a good posture of the body to avoid damage that may arise due to an overstressing of the lumbar, spine and neck of the body.
• the mobile phone is considered to be the most important thing to bring along and something we cannot be without, since it has such a wide range of use it creates a strong dependence for the user.
• a problem with this new use is that it is usually not used under optimal and/or ergonomic conditions to reduce strain on the body. It is common for a user to bend the neck forward/downwards, for example when sitting, standing, going on a bus, sitting on the couch, etc. to watch the screen and/or having another unnatural body position, for example, resting on the side of a couch or the like, which directly creates harmful stress on the body. With the high usage and repetition of this type of harmful strain on the neck, a likely symptom is pain in the neck and surrounding muscles. The time period of exposure of such a harmful strain is directly determinative of the occurrence of an injury, but also plays a major role for prevention and from a rehabilitation point of view when the injury has occurred.
• IPad-neck that points to a significant and addictive increase in the use of touchpads and cellular phones, which has affected a large number of people.
• the following actions may be considered: cease to use a smartphone or touchpad, introduce breaks around every 15 minutes, stretch and increase blood circulation in the body, hold the touchpad or smartphone just in height with the head to avoid harmful strain, seek a naprapath or physiotherapist for treatment, increase your exercise dose to get better strength and protection against this kind of pain, get different types of ergonomic tools to improve the posture of touchpad/smartphone users.
• Symptoms typical to the use of a touchpad/smartphone are neck pain initially and then different sequelae the longer the trouble lasts.
• a not uncommon symptom is that the patient is injured in other parts of the body. This is because the human body automatically tries to compensate for an incorrect or weakened position in the body.
• a person who plays with his/her touchpad/smartphone during a large part of a day for several months in a row all to often has a posture that bends his/her neck forward. Over time, the main neck muscles around the vertebral column will weaken and the body will thus compensate for this by using larger and more superior muscles that will eventually become exhausted, which in turn leads to stiffness and pain in the muscles, shoulder and neck.
• the most effective way to rehabilitate the affected area is to ensure that the relationship between "correct position” and "wrong position” becomes corrected, i.e. the important thing is to minimize the occasions that adversely affect the muscles and ensure that the amount of occurrences that has a structural and/or neutral load on the body exceeds the occurrences of harmful strain.
• the user can speed up the healing process through treatment and special training exercises to relieve and speed up recovery, but the primary tool is to try to reduce usage that has a negative impact. The likely recommendation to the user with symptoms falls back on measures recommended as above.
• Sitting down is possible if the touchpad/smartphone is held straight in front of one self, however, long-term sitting causes other harmful loads and health effects in the body.
• a very large and far-reaching study by the Medical College of Wisconsin has shown strong evidence that a prolonged session seated has a strong impact on health, including higher risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease such as stroke and shorter lifespan.
• the document DE102013014791 provides flexible and easy support for resting muscles when a user, for example, sits at a table or in on a couch.
• Patent document US4987625 A discloses a body support for a user intended for use where the user is resting on the stomach.
• Patent Application US2015/0289664 A1 discloses a body support for a user intended for use where the user is resting on the stomach.
• the document GB2262225 A shows a body support for a user intended for use where the user is resting on the stomach.
• the present invention is intended to provide a body support wherein a user resting on the stomach has support for elbows in such a manner that the forearms and hands can be moved freely, and the user's body is in a curvature which causes minimal strain on the body, and where the user's neck is in a neutral or slightly backward position without any harmful strain when using a touchpad and/or smartphone.
• a body support according to the invention comprising a resting surface providing a suitable curve for the lumbar region, in combination with elbow support as described below, causes the user to automatically take a body position for convenience purposes that does not cause harmful strain on either the neck or the back, even if the user uses said body support, for touchpad playing, book reading or the like, for long periods of time.
• the body support design according to the present invention allows the user to rest with minimal strain on the back and also provides the user to play games, watch tv, use a touchpad/smartphone without risking neck pain.
• resting on the stomach using the elbows as support has proven to allow prolonged use without the risk of harmful strain, without limiting the person's use of a touchpad/smartphone or other media.
• the present invention provides a body support comprising a resting surface which provides a neutral curvature of the user's spine when the user is resting on the stomach on the resting surface, as well as arm rests on which the resting user supports the elbows on.
• the user can then use a handheld media and/or support his head in one or both of his hands. Accordingly, a person and user of the body support maintains a correct/better/good posture of the body to avoid damage that may occur due to a strain on the lumbar, spine, and neck.
• the body support is intended to support the front of the user's body by resting the bodies' front (abdomen and chest) on a curvature that is formed by the body support. It is at least the upper body of the user, that is the torso, which is supported by the body supports resting surface.
• the curvature of the support has a structure that allows the lumbar to arch in its well-intended neutral position for a user with a correct/good/better posture. Such a good posture is illustrated in Fig. 2, Fig. 6 and Fig. 7c, in contrast with a posture that is to curved, which is illustrated in Fig. 7b and the overly curved posture illustrated in Fig. 7a.
• the structure can be accomplished in a variety of ways.
• the support may be relatively stiff, the surface of the support being curved in such a way that the user's back takes the appropriate curvature.
• the support may be more resilient, or soft, whereby the user drops down in the support so that the appropriate curvature is achieved.
• many different combinations of these two extremes can be used, such as a relatively rigid core combined with a more resilient, thicker padding, to achieve the same effect.
• the resting surface curvature radius/curve creates an arch on the lumbar.
• the radius of curvature can in one embodiment be between 2 m and 3 m.
• the body support is not necessarily limited to this range. In other embodiments, the radius may be 0.7 m and up too greater than 3 m.
• the curvature may also have the radius 0 when the body support with the resting surface is wedge shaped.
• the resting surface be curved as a concave, as illustrated in the drawings.
• the slope of the body supports curvature for optimal fit based on the hips position on the body support.
• the body support has one or more resting supports, which a person's elbows can rest on.
• the rest support provides that the forearms and hands are freely movable in order for the user to handle, such as holding or manipulating a handheld media and/or supporting his head with his hands, and wherein the curvature of the body support provides that the lumbar arches in its neutral position as described above, when the elbows have been placed in rest.
• the armrest design results in that for the convenience of the user the chest is placed resting on the resting surface in a position, wherein said spinal curvature is achieved.
• each armrest includes both a support for the user's armpit and a support for the user's elbow, which together results in the user's arms to be oriented vertically or obliquely downwardly when the armpit rests in the armpit support and the elbow rests on the elbow support.
• the armrest comprises a support for the user's upper arm and a support for the user's elbows whose common geometry provides the same arm angle.
• the body support is provided with legs and/or a frame in order to form a piece of furniture.
• the body support is adjustable through, for example, an inflatable device.
• a further embodiment indicates that the body support is provided with electronics for measuring usage time and/or biological parameters.
• an embodiment indicates that the rest support is adjustable in height and/or laterally.
• Yet another embodiment indicates that the rest is mounted on the body support detachably.
• the resting support is adjusted for different lengths of upper arms, wherein the rest is raised by plates of the same material or other suitable material and secured by, for example, Velcro straps, pushbuttons or other fasteners available on the market.
• a further embodiment provides that said curvature is created when the body support in a vertical cross-section along the length of the body support is in the form of an elastic wedge, with a substantially straight upper resting surface, for example a substantially triangular shape, such as a rectangular triangle where the hypotenuse is constituted by the resting surface.
• the body support is at least partially or predominantly formed of an elastic material, whereby when a person rests on the body support, the lumbar arches in its neutral position, and wherein the curve is created when the elastic material imparts the weight of the person such as is described in general terms above.
• Yet another embodiment indicates that the elbow support is adjusted stage less.
• Fig. 1 schematically illustrates the spine and lumbar of people in ascending age
• Fig. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the body support with a rest support in accordance with the present invention
• Fig. 3 illustrates an embodiment of the body support with another rest support than in fig. 2, in accordance with the present invention
• Fig. 4 illustrates a further embodiment of the body support as a piece of furniture in accordance with the present invention
• Fig. 5 illustrates how a person uses the body support to handle a touchpad in an embodiment of the present invention
• Fig. 6 illustrates how a person uses the body support to, for example, watch TV in one embodiment of the present invention
• Fig. 7a, 7b and 7c schematically illustrates an incorrect curvature of the body support in Fig. 7a and 7b and a good curvature of the body support in Fig. 7c in accordance with the present invention
• Fig. 8 schematically illustrates how the elbow support is adjusted stage less in accordance with the present invention.
• the present invention aims at providing a body support where a user is resting on the stomach with support for elbows in such a manner that the forearms and hands can be moved freely and that the user's body is in a curvature, which causes minimal strain on the body. It has been found that a user resting on the body support of the invention with the arms supported by the armrests as it is intended to be utilized tends to keep the neck slightly backward, which does not cause any harmful strain.
• the body supports design in accordance with the present invention allows the user to rest with a minimal strain on the back as well as providing the user to play games, watching TV/touchpad without the risk of sustaining neck pain.
• the body support is preferably placed on a surface such as a floor, bed, sofa or other suitable surfaces.
• the present invention also solves a fundamental problem of not having to interrupt activities in order to exercise and technically the person in question does not have to stop and/or exercise when it concerns the conditions "right” / "wrong" placement of the lumbar.
• a form of rationalization is also found in the literature.
• Fig. 1 schematically illustrates the spine and lumbar of people in ascending age.
• the lumbar spine is made up of five lumbar vertebrae L1-L5, where L5 is closest to the cross bone, which in turn is above the tailbone. It is of utmost importance that a human skull does not expose the lumbar spinal cord to excessive strain for a long time, the more the skull/head is angled forward, the higher the weight/force the neck and backbone are exposed to.
• Fig. 1 illustrates four people schematically with backbones in increasing age from left to right, where the lumbar 10 and the rest of the spinal column is bending more and more with rising age.
• the person to the left has a correct/better/good posture along the lumbars neutral position.
• the persons in Fig. 1 are adults and not children, but it is emphasized that the child's ergonomics work in a manner similar to that of adults. In other words, the invention is applicable on both adult and non-adult users, in a completely analogous manner.
• the term computerized device in the description text is used herein to include mobile phones, smart phones, touchpads/tablets, laptops, televisions and similar.
• the body support is not limited to being used solely for computerized devices, but can be used in principle for anything that the user wishes to perform for an extended period of time without any problems such as watching TV, reading a newspaper, reading a book, drawing, playing soccer games, hanging out, using laptop etc. In the present invention, these are referred to as handheld media.
• the user can support the head while, for example, viewing TV and for conversations.
• the present invention intends to provide a body support 12, as illustrated in Fig. 2 in a possible embodiment.
• the body support 12 is made of a type of suitable material that is friendly to rest on such as, for example, an inflatable material with fabric coverings or made of plastic or other suitable material.
• it can be made of a solid-like material such as a memory foam, such as Tempur®, or other common material for the manufacturing of furniture with ergonomic support.
• the support can of course also be made of a combination of several such materials, such as a hard/rigid core clad in a thick, thin or varying layer of memory foam.
• the surface coating can also vary, and for example, consist of textile materials.
• the body support 12 has a curvature 14, which provides the lumbar to arch in its neutral curvature of a standing person with a good/correct/better lumbar curvature in the lumbar vertebras L1-L5. Furthermore, the body support 12 has a rest/loadbearing support 16 for a person's elbows, wherein the forearms and hands are free to move in order to be able to click on a computerized device or rest the head on the hands when, for example, viewing television without the head of the person leaning forward.
• the rest support 16 properly used with the elbows resting on said elbow support as explained above, makes it natural for the person to hold his head at an angled position which is straight or slightly reversed relative to the general direction of the spine, which is an economically advantageous position, without any hassles or notable effort. Worth noting is that this position allows the person to stay in this way for a long time without any inconvenience.
• the person/child rests with the body's front on the body support. In Fig. 2, the body support 12 has one and the same rest support 16 for both elbows.
• the lumbar curvature 1 provides a person to easily arch and comfortably rest and get good support for playing, viewing television and reading in the correct position against the surface 18 of the curvature 14 when the elbows are correctly placed in the rest support.
• the curvature is formed when the body support 12 has an elastic wedge-shaped curvature 14 of an elastic material, whereby when a person rests on the body support, the lumbar 10 of the person arches in its neutral position, and wherein the curvature is formed when the elastic material gives way to the weight of a person.
• the rest support can be raised with plates of the same material or other suitable material and attached to, for example, Velcro straps, pushbuttons or other fasteners, which are on the market (not shown). Otherwise, any stage less setting of the rest support can be a possible embodiment. The stage less setting is shown in an embodiment more closely below with reference to Fig. 8.
• the body support 12 can be marketed in different sizes and then labeled with XS, S, M, L, XL and so on or through other sizes.
• a person may, for example, starting from the position of the hip on the body support 12 adjust the inclination of the body support curvature 14 for optimal fit.
• the body support 12 may be provided with at least one knob/lever which functions like the mechanism of the backrest of the seats in a car. The mechanism is then built into the body support.
• a plate is incorporated into the body support 12 where the abdomen is positioned which bends downward or upward depending on which direction the knob/lever is actuated to accommodate an optimum posture of the arch. For example, the bending of the plate occurs downward when the lever is released in stages and upwards when the plate is tensioned.
• the body support can be adapted to different body configurations.
• the body support 12 has been provided with two rest supports 20, one for each elbow.
• the rest support 20 may be arranged to be removable from the body support 12 (not shown) and may also be raised and lowered and/or rotated. The same applies to the individual rest support 16 according to Fig. 2.
• a holder (not shown) for a computerized device may be provided on the body support 12. The holder may also be used or designed for reading newspapers, journals, etc.
• the body support 12 can be equipped with electronics for example timing how long a person has used the support 12 or with biological sensors for measuring, for example, pulse and other known sensors for measuring other biological parameters.
• the body support may be connected to a Virtual reality (VR) device or used to watch or play with the VR device.
• VR Virtual reality
• the body support 12 may be provided with an electrical inflation and draining device as known for air mattresses or ergonomic car seats that can be adapted to a particular person.
• the inflatable portion when in the fully inflated position does not occupy more than a maximum of 50%, more preferably maximum 25%, of the total volume of the body support so that a main or underlying structure entails the general shape of the resting surface and the inflation/drainage only causes a minor adjustment of the curvature of said cavity. This results in a stable construction that is still adjustable.
• the inflatable part it can be emptied or filled manually with an air mattress pump via a valve.
• the body support can be adapted to different body configurations.
• a leg support (not shown) for legs and feet may be provided on the body support 12. This may in one embodiment be foldable to be joined to the body support 12 when moved and for packaging purposes.
• the body support 12 may also be used as a furniture 22 shown in an embodiment of Fig. 4, wherein the support 12 is provided with legs 24.
• the furniture 22 may also consist of the body support 12 and a frame/stand (not shown), which the support 12 can be placed into.
• the Body support can also be produced in a version that is adapted to be placed in an existing couch. Also, in one embodiment, the support 12 can easily be separated from the frame of the furniture through being detachable, such as with buttons or Velcro straps, arranged in a stand.
• the stand itself can be detachable for folding or a stand with simple folding functions for easier transport and/or packaging.
• the body support itself may be shaped to be adjusted, in terms of the length and width of the body, to approximately correspond to a conventional bed foundation.
• the body support is greater than or equal to 0,5 m long, wider or equal to 0,3 m and higher or equal to 0,3 m in accordance with measurements suitable for a user's body.
• a person 26 uses the body support 12 to handle a touchpad 28 in one embodiment of the present invention.
• the person 16 can lift the touchpad 28 or other handheld media against the face with his hands and elbows to tilt his head slightly to obtain a field of view and a posture with a more elevated view of the touchpad 28 as described above.
• Fig. 6 illustrates how a person 26 uses the body support 12 to, for example, watch TV in one embodiment of the present invention with an arch 30 which allows a good posture of the neck, spine and lumbar 10 as described above.
• Fig. 7a, 7b and 7c schematically illustrates an incorrect curvature of the body support in Fig. 7a and 7b as well as a good curvature of the body support in Fig. 7c in accordance with the present invention.
• the body supports 12 curvature 32 is unevenly formed mostly upwardly towards the body of the person, which causes the spine 38 to receive an undesirable and harmful curvature.
• Fig. 7c illustrates a curvature 36 of the body support 12 in accordance with the present invention, which causes the spine 38 to achieve a good and healthy curvature with a good arch 30.
• the broken lines marking in Fig. 7c indicates that the person 26 drops down into the elastic curvature 36 of the body support 12 to get a good arch 30.
• Fig. 8 schematically illustrates how the elbow support 30 is adjustable in a stage less manner in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• the stage less embodiment has the reference number 40. It can also be provided on all forms of elbow support according to the present invention.
• the elbow support 40 with the telescopic support 42 may also be provided on the body support 12 without any other elbow support 20 provided.
• the elbow support 40 is arranged on a telescopically adjustable support 42 where the telescopic support is attached to the elbow support with a lockable ball device 46, 48 which provide the elbow support 40 to be adjusted upwardly, downwardly and laterally.
• the telescopic support may be attached to the body support 12, for example, via a joint 44 inserted into the body support.
• the ball device may be lockable via friction between the ball 46 and the receptor hole 48, or by other known means.
• a tube may be provided in an existing elbow support that can be pulled and pushed into the elbow support, with the elbow support provided and lockable in stage less steps or in fixed positions, for example with a clamp/sprint around the tube/through the tube that locks and abuts the existing elbow supports surface.

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• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Nursing (AREA)
• Orthopedics, Nursing, And Contraception (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (4)

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ID=60325316

Family Applications (1)

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• 2017
  • 2017-03-29 US US16/088,055 patent/US20200297122A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2017-03-29 CN CN201780021481.6A patent/CN108882796A/zh active Pending
  • 2017-03-29 EP EP17799753.3A patent/EP3435822B1/de active Active
  • 2017-03-29 WO PCT/SE2017/000021 patent/WO2017200448A1/en active Application Filing

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