GB2272160A - Lumbago band - Google Patents

Abstract

A support band for use in the treatment or prevention of lumbago comprises a support plate (1) capable of being adjustably applied to the rear waist region of a patient, which support plate is formed from a mouldable material comprising a soft base fabric impregnated or coated with a water hardenable resin, wherein in use the support plate is dipped into water, moulded to a shape substantially corresponding to the shape of the patient's waist region and then hardened and thereby fixed in that shape. Bellybands (7, 8), belts (10, 11, 16, 17, 23, 24) and fasteners (14, 15, 20, 21) are connected to the hardened support plate prior to use, after covering the support plate with a cover (205, Fig. 2e). <IMAGE>

Description

2272160 LUMBAGO BAND The present invention relates to a lumbago band used

in a state fixed onto the waist portion of a patient or the like for the therapy or prevention of lumbago.

There are known various methods for the therapy or prevention of lumbago One of such methods is the method of binding tight the waist portion of the patient with a lumbago band so as to securely settle his waist portion.

This lumbago band is made in such a manner that an elastic material and a nonstretchable material are suitably combined into a band; and, in order to enhance the fitness of said lumgago band and provide a sure fixing force thereto, stays are inserted into suitable Portions thereof, or the materials thereof and the sewing method employed therefor are suitably changed In order to have said lumbago band perfectly fit the curved surface of the waist portion of the patient's body, it is necessary to work the stays so as to conform to the body line of each patient and to select such a combination of materials or members and such a sewing method as to be suited for the body of each patient.

However, for accurately measuring the body line of the Patient and to work the materials or members as mentioned above, skilled experts are needed; and thus a relatively long time is spent for the manufacture of such a lumbago band, and the manufacturing cost is increased, but, notwithstanding, the lumbago band thus manufactured is not necessarily satisfactory in respect of the fitness and fixing function thereof For the purpose of removing this drawback, a lumbago band manufactured in such a manner that a thermoplastic resin plate which is softened by heating to become moldable and hardened when it is cooled to room temperature to exhibit a sufficient strength is mounted onto a winding base member; the thermoplastic resin plate is heated to be softened and then applied onto the part of the waist portion of the patient, bound tight and securely settled with the winding base member, the whole surface of the thermoplastic resin plate is pressed onto the patient's body by operator's hands to thereby deform it into a shape corresponding to the patient's body line, and then the thermoplastic resin plate is cooled to harden, has been proposed by the present applicant (Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No Sho 61-145523) In case of this lumbago band, the thermoplastic resin plate is modeled by using the patient's body directly as a mold, and therefore, the lumbago band can be made to accurately fit the patient's body and surely fixed thereto in a very short time, but, since the thermoplastic resin Plate is made to fulfil the function of stays as well, said thermoplastic resin plate must have a strength and, accordingly, must have a certain thickness, as a result of which the lumbago band becomes bulky and, in addition, considerably heavy.

Further, the thermoplastic resin Plate itself is not permeable to air at all; and if, as a countermeasure, a large number of air-permeable perforations are provided in the theremoplastic resin plate, the waist portion of the patient on which the lumbago band is applied will unavoidably become hot and stuffy if he wears it for a long time, which makes him feel uncomfortable.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a lumbago band which well fits the body line of a patient and is light in weight yet can stand a continuous use thereof for a long time.

In orderto achieve the above-mentioned object, the lumbago band according to the present invention comprises a fixing plate applied onto the waist portion of a patient, and bellybands coupled to the right and left sides of said fixing plate through adjustable belts, wherein said fixing plate is composed of a molding material made in such a manner that a soft base fabric is impregnated with a water hardenable resin, and the thus formed molding material is hardened in such a shape as to correspond to the shape of said waist portion.

According to the present invention, the molding material is dipped into water, applied onto the waist of the patient, and modeled by use of operator's hand so as to bring said molding material into a shape corresponding to the external shape of said waist portion, and left to stand for some time so as to allow said molding material to harden, whereby the fixing plate is formed The thus formed fixing plate is coupled to bellybands through adjustable belts, with which the lumbago band is completed The fixing plate thus obtained has a contour conformed to the external shape of the patient's body modeled, and, due to the porosity of the base fabric of the molding material, the thus hardened fixing plate also possess a porosity.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by reference to the drawings.

Fig 1 (a) and (b) are a front view and a rear view of an embodiment of the present invention Numeral 1 denotes a fixing plate, which is of a size sufficient to almost completely cover the waist portion of a patient, and the skin-side surface 2 of said fixing plate 1 has projections and depressions corresponding to those of the surface of said waist portion Numerals 3 4 5 and 6 denote belt- insertion holes provided near the right and left side ends of the fixing plate 1 Numerals 7 and 8 denote bellybands coupled to the right and left sides of the fixing plate 1 by means of belts On the inner surface of the end portion at the opposite side, with reference to the fixing plate 1, of Cart) the bellyband 8, a flat fastener 9 such as Velcro Lis provided, while the outer surface of the bellyband 7 is made of a material which can be engaged with said flat fastener 9.

To the end portion at that side of the bellyband 7 which faces the fixing plate 1 one end 12:13 of each of belts 10 and 11 is fixed, while on the other end portions of said belts 10 and 11, flat fasteners 14 and 15 are provided, respectively Further, to the end portion at that side of the bellyband 8 which faces the fixing plate 1 one end 18; 19 of each of belts 16 and 17 is fixed while on the other end protions of said belts 16 and 17, flat fasteners and 21 are provided, respectively On the outer surface 22 of the fixing plate 1 belts 23 and 24 are disposed At both ends of the belt 23, ring-shaped fittings 25 and 26 are mounted Through the ring-shaped fitting 25 the free end of the belt 10 on which the flat fastener 14 is provided is inserted after passing through the belt insertion hole 3 of the fixing plate 1 from the skin side to the outer side, while through the ring-shaped fitting 26 the free end of the belt 16 on which the flat fastener 20 is provided is inserted after being passed through the belt insertion hole of the fixing plate 1 from the skin side to the outer side On the other hand, at both ends of the belt 24, similarly ring-shaped fittings 27 and 28 are provided, respectively Through the ring-shaped fitting 27, the free end of the belt 11 which has passed through a belt insertion hole 4 of the fixing plate 1 is inserted, while through the ring-shaped fitting 28, the free end of the belt 17 which has passed through the belt insertion hole 6 of the fixing plate 1 is inserted.

Next, the method of manufacturing the fixing plate I will be described As shown in Fig 2 (a), numeral 201 denotes a molding material, which comprises a soft base fabric impregnated with a water hardenable resin and is enclosed in a container which is not permeable to water.

First, the molding material 201 is taken out from the cotnainer, cut to a required size, and dipped into water, and then, after the excessive portion of the water is removed, said molding material is applied onto the waist portion 202 of a patient as shown in Fig 2 (b), and pushed by operator's hands along the shape of the waist portion to thereby perform a modeling The resin penetrated into the base fabric begins to harden, and soon, the whole of the molding material is hardened to such a hardness that it is not defomed any more Then, the molding material is detached from the waist portion Thus, a molded body 203 as shown in Fig 2 (c) is obtained On the peripheral edge portion of the thus obtained molded body 203 an edge 204 is formed by the hardened fiber This endge 204 is removed by a suitable treatment Subsequently, the belt insertion holes 5, 6 7 and 8 are bored in the portions near the right and left side ends of the molded body 203 as shown in Fig.

2 (d) The molded body 203 thus treated is covered with a cover 205 made of a thin fabric which readily gets to fit the skin, whereby the fixing plate 1 is completed as shown in Fig 2 (e).

The lumbago band according to the present invention is put on as follows: The patient applies the fixing plate 1 onto his waist portion, brings the bellybands 7 and 8 round to the front portion of his waist so as to lay the bellyband 8 on the bellyband 7, and couples both bellybands 7 and 8 to each other by means of the flat fastener 9, and pulls the respective free ends of the belts 10 11, 16 and 17 toward his belly side by holding said free ends with his hands and fixes said free ends onto the outer surfaces of the bellybands 7 and 8, by means of the respective flat fasteners 14, 15, 20 and 21, at positions where a suitable compressive force is applied If in this case, a suitable compressive force is not obtained, then the patient adjusts the position at which the bellybands 7 and 8 are coupled to each other and, further, reajust the fixing positions of the belts 10 11, 16 and 17.

Next, the concrete examples of the respective constituent portions of the lumbago band according to the present invention will be described As the soft base fabric constituting the fixing plate, there can be used a tape formed by warp-knitting a fiber such as glass fiber.

polyester fiber aramid Lfiber, polypropylene fiber, or the like which has a relatively high rigity Of the abovementioned material fibers, the use of a Polyester fiber is preferable since a base fabric of a three-layer structure formed by the interlock stitching of a polyester fiber is advantageous in respect of the modelability, strength, air permeability, and operability A further advantageous base fabric is a tape of an interlock-stitched three-layer structure formed in such a manner that the front surface and the rear surface layers are formed by Processing polyester threads, and the center layer portion is formed by relatively thick polyester yarns with a high rigity The size of the base fabric is, for instance, 15 to 50 cm in width and 30 to 80 cm in length but can be optionally selected depending on the patient's body portion where the lumbago band is used, his phisique, etc.

As the water hardenable resin with which the base fabric is impregnated, there can be used resins, which harden upon contact with water, such as for instance polyurethane prepolymers (resins obtained by the reaction between polyols and excess polyisocyanates) Many of said polyurethane prepolymers are disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No Sho 60-48184 and No Hei 2-61258, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No Sho 55-80432, No Sho 55- 158052, No Sho 58-175561 No Sho 61-37165, No Sho 62- 223213, No 62-270161, No Hei 1-175854, and No Hei 2- 71746, etc.

As the material of the adjustable belts, there can be used a tape formed by plain-weaving cotton yarns, polyamid yarns, polyethlene terephthalate yarns, vinyl chloride yarns, or the like or a tape formed by mix-weaving an elastomer yarns together with the abovementioned material yarns or plain-weaving elastomer yarns alone The width of the adjustable belts is 3 to 10 cm and, preferably 5 to 7 5 cm and the thickness thereof is 1 to 3 mm Said adjustable belts should desirably be such belts which are not one-side- stretched or curled and have such a characteristic that the range of elasticity thereof is limited.

The bellybands should desirably be composed of a material which has a strength to such a degree that it can compress the abdomen of the patient, which is not worn out or collapsed even if it is used continuously for a long time, and which has high sweat-absorbing and dissipating properties For instance, as the core material of each of the bellybands, there is used a non-woven fabric, felt, plastic mesh, and a formed material such as urethane, vinyl chloride, neoprene, butadiene, or the like; as the skin-side layer of each of the bellybands, there is used a material such as cotton, rayon or the like which has a high water absorption or a material whose texture is made so dense that the water absorption by capillarity is enhanced; and as the material of the outer layer of each of said bellybands, there can be used a polyamid pile which can couple the right and left bellybands to each other through fasteners As for the size of the bellybands, each of them is formed in a rectangle having a width of 9 to 20 cm and a length of 18 to cm, which can compress the abdomen of the patient in which case, desirably, the lower portion of each bellyband is provided with knotches in order to avoid the compressive contact with the ilium, and the upper portion thereof has knotches for preventing the stomach and intestins of the patient from being compressed.

The lumbago band according to the present invention is constructed in such a manner that, by use of a molding material comprising a soft base fabric impregnated with a water hardenable resin, the waist of a patient is directly modeled, whereby a fixing plate is formed, and therefore, the fixing plate accurately fits the waist portion of the patient, it is light in weight, and in addition, it is porous, so that, even if the patient has it on continuously for a long time, his waist Portion never becomes hot and stuffy and an excellent therapeutical and Preventive effect can be obtained, and at the same time, the patient can wear it comfortably.

Claims (9)

1 A support band for use in the treatment or prevention of lumbago which comprises a support plate capable of being adjustably applied to the rear waist region of a patient, which support plate is formed from a mouldable material comprising a soft base fabric impregnated or coated with a water hardenable resin, wherein in use the support plate is moulded to a shape substantially corresponding to the shape of the patients waist region and then hardened and thereby fixed in that shape.

2 A support band according to claim 1, which is provided with an attachment band adjustably connected to the support plate which is able to extend around the waist region of a patient so as to allow the support plate to which it is connected to be applied to the rear waist region.

3 A support band according to claim 2, wherein the attachment band is formed from two releasably coupled belly bands.

4 A support band according to claim 3, wherein one of the belly bands is connected to one end of the support plate and the other belly band is connected to the other end of the support plate.

5 A support band according to claim 2, 3 or 4, wherein the attachment band is connected to the support plate by means of adjustable straps.

6 A support band according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the soft base fabric of the support plate is a warp-knitted fabric made by knitting glass fibre, polyester fibre, aramid fibre or polypropylene fibre.

7 A support band according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the soft base fabric of the support plate is an interlock-stitched, three-layer structure in which the outer layers are formed from thin polyester thread and the middle layer is formed from a relatively thicker polyester yarn.

8 A support band according to any preceding claim, wherein the water hardenable resin of the support plate is a polyurethane prepolymer.

9 A support band substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.