GB2301033A - Head support - Google Patents

Abstract

The support comprises a head-engaging portion 10 for fitting to the head above the level of the eyes, a trunk-engaging portion 16 for fitting to the body and a connecting portion 22 which extends along the back of the neck when the support is being worn, the support being sufficiently rigid when worn to give support to the head. The support does not prop up the chin, thereby avoiding restriction of jaw movement, and the connecting portion does not obscure the field of vision. The portion 16 may fit over the shoulders as shown and may include an adjustable tightening portion 28. At least a part of the support may be double walled so that it can be filled with settable material that is mouldable to the wearer's shape.

Description

A HEAD SUPPORT FOR A PERSON'S HEAD This invention relates to a head support for a person's head.

Head supports for a person's head are known. The known head supports support the head from beneath the persons chin and thus obstruct jaw movement. This obstruction of the jaw movement may cause problems for the person in talking and eating. The known head supports with their support beneath the chin may also be claustrophobic to wear.

It is an aim of the present invention to obviate or reduce the above mentioned problems.

Accordingly, in one non-limiting embodiment of the present invention there is provided a head support for a person's head, which head support comprises a head-engaging portion for fitting to a part of the person's head above the level of a person's eyes, a trunk-engaging portion for fitting to a trunk part of the person's body, and a connecting portion which connects the head-engaging portion with the trunkengaging portion, the head support being such that it is sufficiently rigid to give support to the person's head when the head support is being worn, the connecting portion being such that it does not extend in front of the person's face thereby to avoid obscuring the person's field of vision, and the head support being such that it does not prop up the person's chin thereby to avoid restricting the person's jaw movement and to allow the person to talk and eat in an unimpeded manner.

The head support of the present invention is more comfortable to wear than the above mentioned known head support because it does not restrict the person's jaw movement and thus the person is allowed to talk and eat in an unimpeded manner. Still further, because the person's jaw movement is not restricted, the head support of the present invention is not claustrophobic to wear.

Preferably, the head-engaging portion is a head band. Other types of head-engaging portion may be employed so that, for example, the head-engaging portion may be a head cap.

The trunk-engaging portion preferably comprises means for fitting over a person's shoulders, and an adjustable tightening portion for tightening around the person's trunk part.

The means for fitting over a person's shoulders preferably comprises a shoulder-engaging portion for each shoulder and a strap for each shoulder-engaging portion. The two straps may be connected to the adjustable tightening portion.

The adjustable tightening portion may comprise a strap and buckle arrangement. Preferably, the strip and buckle arrangement is tightened simply by pulling.

The connecting portion is preferably a strip portion which extends along the back of the person's neck when the head support is being worn. Any suitable and appropriate design for the connecting portion may be employed.

Preferably, the head support is one in which at least a part of the head support is double walled in order to be fillable with a settable material that is settable to the person's shape, thereby to facilitate good support and comfort of wearing.

Preferably, at least a part of the trunk-engaging portion is double walled. The double walled portion need not be over the entire trunk-engaging portion and the double walled portion only needs to be over that part of the trunk-engaging portion that gives strategic support to the person's head.

At least a part of the connecting portion may also be double walled. Again the entire connecting portion need not be double walled and the double walled portion can be placed where desired and can extend where desired in order to give the required strategic support.

The head support may be manufactured and sold with or without the settable material. Thus the head support may include the settable material if desired.

The settable material is preferably a mouldable material that is able to conform to the person's shape prior to setting. Preferably the settable material sets hard. A presently preferred settable material is that sold under the trade mark NEOFRACT. Any suitable and appropriate settable material may be employed.

Ideally, the set table material is able to be poured into the part of the head support requiring filling, and is then able to set in a reasonably quick time.

The set table material may be a two component material that needs to be mixed together in order to initiate setting. One of the components may be a hardener.

Usually, the settable material will be poured into the head support and appropriately rolled or kneaded into position, whereupon the head support can be fitted to the person whilst the settable material is setting.

The majority of the head support may be made of a cloth material with any straps employed being of a plastics material such for example as nylon. Where a buckle is employed, this will usually be a metal buckle but it could be a plastics buckle if desired.

Generally the head support may be made of any suitable and appropriate material or materials.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side view of a person unable to hold up their head; Figure 2 shows the person of Figure 1 but fitted with a first head support of the present invention; Figure 3 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of the head support shown in Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a rear view of a second head support.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a person 2 unable to hold up their head 4. This may be due to defective muscles in the person's neck 6.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3, the person 2 is shown fitted with a head support 8. The head support 8 comprises a head-engaging portion 10 for fitting to a part 12 of the person's head 4 above the level of the person's eyes 14. The head support 8 also comprises a trunk-engaging portion 16 for fitting to a trunk part 8 of a person's body 20. The head support 8 still further comprises a connecting portion 22 which connects the head-engaging portion 10 to the trunk-engaging portion 16.

The head support 8 is such that it is sufficiently rigid to give support to the person's head 4 when the head support 8 is being worn as shown in Figure 2. The connecting portion 22 is such that it does not extend in front of the person's face thereby to avoid obscuring the person's field of vision. The head support 8 is such that it does not prop up the person's chin 24 thereby to avoid restricting the person's jaw movement and to allow the person 2 to talk and eat in an unimpeded manner.

As can best be seen from Figure 3, the headengaging portion 10 is in the form of a head band.

The trunk-engaging portion 16 comprises means 26 for fitting over the person's shoulders, and an adjustable tightening portion 28 for tightening around the person's trunk part 18. The means 28 for fitting over the person's shoulders comprises a shoulderengaging portion 30 for each shoulder, and a strap 32 for each of the two shoulder-engaging portions 30.

The straps 32 are connected to the adjustable tightening portion 28.

The adjustable tightening portion 28 comprises a strap and buckle arrangement having a pair of straps 34, 36. The straps 34, 36 have free ends 38, 40 respectively. The straps 34, 36 pass through a buckle 40 as shown. Pulling on the free ends 38, 40 of the straps 34, 36 is effective to tighten the strap and buckle arrangement.

The connecting portion 22 is a strip portion which extends along the back of the person's neck 6 when the head support 8 is being worn as shown in Figure 2.

At least a part of the head support 8 is double walled in order to be fillable with a settable material that is settable to a person's shape, thereby to facilitate good support and comfort of wearing.

The two shoulder-engaging portions 30 and substantially all of the connecting portion 22 are double walled and are filled with the set table material. The settable material is a two part mouldable material that is able to conform to the person's shape prior to setting. The settable material sets hard and is preferably that sold under the trade mark NEOFRACT.

The straps 34, 36 may be connected together by a buckle 42 having a male part 44 which fits into a female part 46. When the male and female parts 44, 46 are connected together, then the free ends 38, 40 of the straps 34, 36 can be pulled, for example forwardly by the person 2 away from his or her body in order to tighten the head support 8 about the person's body 20 and to get a good firm neck-supporting action.

Figure 4 shows a second head support 8 which is similar to the head support 8 shown in Figures 2 and 3. Similar parts have therefore been given the same reference numberals for ease of comparison and understanding. In Figure 4, arrows 48 indicate the forwards pulling of the free ends 38, 40 in order to tighten the adjustable tightening portion 28. Arrows 50 indicate how this pulling causes a downwards movement of the head support 8 and thus its tight fitting on the person's trunk part 18.

In Figure 4, the head support 8 has a back engaging part 52 which is slightly less expansive than the back engaging part 52 shown in Figure 3. In Figure 4, the back engaging part 52 extends into a pair of straps 54, 56. In Figure 4, the back-engaging part 52 extends down to the ring buckle 41.

The head support 8 may be lined with a lining material. Any suitable and appropriate soft lining material may be employed. Thus, for example, the lining material may be sheep skin or a foam material.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiments of the invention described above with reference to the accompanying drawings have been given by way of example only and that modifications may be effected.

Thus, for example, the head support 8 may be of a different design to those shown. The head-engaging portion 10 may be in the form of a cap instead of a band. The material that is filled with the settable material may be any suitable and appropriate type of material including cloth and plastics materials. Any suitable and appropriate type of buckle arrangements may be employed to give the required amount of traction appropriate for various patients' necks. As can be seen, the head support 8 supports the person's head 4 without any structure propping up the head 4 from under the chin 24. If a support is used which props up the head 4 from underneath the chin then, due to the weight of the person's head 4, the person 2 does not have free jaw movement for eating or talking.

With the head supports of the present invention, a downward force is provided to pull the person's head 4 up and the load is spread across the person's back.

Two ring buckles 41 as shown in Figure 4 or a single rin buckle 41 as shown in Figure 3 are able to translate the pull forwards as mentioned above as indicated by the arrows 48, 50 shown in Figure 4.

When the settable material has set, then the head supports are substantially individually tailor made, and thus both comfortable to wear and effective. The head supports can be worn whilst sitting or moving about and, as indicated above, they are especially convenient when a person needs to eat or talk. Still further, unobstructed breathing is allowed which avoids any feeling of claustrophobia which sometimes occurs with persons wearing known head supports which prop up the persons' chins. Any suitable and appropriate padding may be employed for the headengaging portion 10.

Claims (16)

1. A head support for a person's head, which head support comprises a head-engaging portion for fitting to a part of the person's head above the level of the person's eyes, a trunk-engaging portion for fitting to a trunk part of the person's body, and a connecting portion which connects the head-engaging portion with the trunk-engaging portion, the head support being such that it is sufficiently rigid to give support to the person's head when the head support is being worn, the connecting portion being such that it does not extend in front of the person's face thereby to avoid obscuring the person's field of vision, and the head support being such that it does not prop up the person's chin thereby to avoid restricting the person's jaw movement and to allow the person to talk and eat in an unimpeded manner.

2. A head support according to claim 1 in which the head-engaging portion is a head band.

3. A head support according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the trunk-engaging portion comprises means for fitting over the person's shoulders, and an adjustable tightening portion for tightening around the person's trunk part.

4. A head support according to claim 3 in which the means for fitting over the person's shoulders comprises a shoulder-engaging portion for each shoulder and a strap for each shoulder-engaging portion.

5. A head support according to claim 4 in which the two straps are connected to the adjustable tightening portion.

6. A head support according to any one of claims 3 - 5 in which the adjustable tightening portion comprises a strap and buckle arrangement.

7. A head support according to claim 6 in which the strap and buckle arrangement is tightened simply by pulling.

8. A head support according to any one of the preceding claims in which the connecting portion is a strip portion which extends along the back of the person's neck when the head support is being worn.

9. A head support according to any one of the preceding claims in which at least a part of the head support is double walled in order to be fillable with a settable material that is settable to the person's shape, thereby to facilitate good support and comfort of wearing.

10. A head support according to claim 9 in which at least a part of the trunk-engaging portion is double walled.

11. A head support according to claim 10 in which at least a part of the connecting portion is also double walled.

12. A head support according to any one of claims 9 - 11 and including the settable material.

13. A head support according to claim 12 in which the set table material is a mouldable material that is able to conform to the person's shape prior to setting.

14. A head support according to claim 13 in which the settable material sets hard.

15. A head support according to any one of the preceding claims and including a lining material.

16. A head support for a person's head, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.