JP2000342678A - Prosthetic device for human body - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a prosthetic device for the human body provided with excellent characteristics with relation to contamination attachable performance, color adjustment performance, feel of material, etc., which has an installation part without excessively tightening the human body, and which can be worn for a long time without giving pain. SOLUTION: This prosthetic device for the human body has an installation part to be engaged with a part of the human body, and the installation part is formed of a thermoplastic rubber elastic material at least, or especially of a laminated body comprising a thermoplastic rubber elastic material layer, and a silicone rubber surface layer to cover at least a part of the thermoplastic rubber elastic material layer to provide excellent total characteristics including compatibility with the human body, and excellent economical effect because the installation part is readjustable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a human body prosthesis used for prosthesis of a defective part by fitting and inserting into a part of a human body and restoring at least a part of the appearance and function of the part. In particular, the present invention relates to a prosthesis such as a prosthetic hand or a prosthetic finger, an artificial ear, or a prosthetic nose with improved wearability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Prostheses, such as artificial hands and artificial fingers, or artificial ears and artificial nose, must be provided with a shape that faithfully reflects the shape of the human body because they can be seen by others. . For this reason, it is desirable to produce a brace with silicone rubber or the like, which can be easily colored, using a mold prepared according to the body shape of each wearer. However, since bracelets manufactured individually for the wearer are inevitably expensive, in general, different brace products such as gender, physique, and skin tone are used using molds taken from a large number of models in advance. It is common to manufacture in advance and prepare a large number of types, and select and use a product suitable for the wearer from among them.

[0003] However, it is preferable that such a brace is easy to put on and take off, and it is preferable that the brace can be worn comfortably for a long time. However, from a limited number of fixed brace products, a brace completely adapted to the physique of the wearer Is not easy to find. Therefore, in the case of a prosthesis, for example, a prosthesis or the like, when there is no product in which the mounting portion of the prosthesis exactly matches the thickness of the lower arm, it is common to adopt a prosthesis having a slightly thinner mounting portion. Then, with a prosthetic hand made of silicone rubber having insufficient elongation characteristics, the wearing part tightens the lower arm and the like, so that wearing for a long time has been a pain for the wearer.

[0004]

For this reason, studies have been made to use a soft material having good stretchability for an appliance instead of silicone rubber. However, in order to match the adhesion of dirt and the color tone of the skin. In view of the tonality, texture, elasticity, and the like, there has not yet been obtained a material for forming an appliance that can be used in place of silicone rubber. Therefore, the present invention
Provided is a human body prosthetic brace that has excellent properties such as stain adhesion, toning properties, and texture, does not excessively tighten the human body at the mounting portion, and does not cause any pain even when worn for a long time. Aimed at.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a prosthesis for human body prosthesis which has the above-mentioned object and has a mounting portion for fitting a part of a human body. It is characterized by being formed of a plastic rubber-like elastic body. In the prosthetic device for human body of the present invention, the mounting portion fitted to a part of the human body includes a thermoplastic rubber-like elastic material layer and a silicone rubber covering at least a part of the thermoplastic rubber-like elastic material layer. By being formed from the laminate including the surface layer, there is an effect that both overall characteristics and economic efficiency are excellent.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A human body prosthesis according to the present invention is shown in FIG.
The following describes an example of a prosthetic hand as shown in FIG. In order to manufacture the artificial hand of this example of the present invention, first, a female mold made of metal or resin having a cavity having the same shape as the hand of a human body is used, and a necessary amount of liquid silicone rubber is poured into this, for example. By rotating the mold and attaching it to the inner surface of the mold to a desired thickness, and then pouring out excess silicone rubber, if necessary, curing it by heating etc. Layer 1 is formed.

Next, if necessary, an adhesive or the like is poured into the inner surface of the silicone rubber layer 1 inside the mold and thinly applied, and further, inside the cavity, for example, a solution of a thermoplastic silicone rubber (eg, Wacker Chemicals) Company, styrene
(Butyl acryl-modified silicone) is injected, and a solution having a desired thickness is attached to the inside of the silicone rubber layer 1 by rotating the mold in the same manner as described above. The thermoplastic silicone rubber layer 2 adhered to the inside is formed.

After the laminated structure of the silicone rubber layer 1 and the thermoplastic silicone rubber layer 2 is formed in this way, the curing is sufficiently advanced to form a hollow silicone rubber molded body having an open end in the elbow direction. Remove from Then, the open end is cut off at an appropriate position to form a mounting portion, and a prosthetic hand, which is the orthosis for human body prosthesis of the present invention, is obtained.

The liquid silicone rubber and the thermoplastic silicone rubber solution used for producing the prosthesis are each mixed with a compounding material such as a reinforcing material, a pigment, a dye, a filler, etc. Mechanical properties such as pod strength and the like can be imparted, and adjustment can be made to obtain a desired color tone.

In this embodiment, the thermoplastic rubber-like elastic body is exemplified by a solution of a thermoplastic silicone rubber. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a styrene-butadiene-based thermoplastic rubber, a polyolefin-based thermoplastic rubber, or the like may be used. It goes without saying that it can be used as well.

Further, in this embodiment, the entire artificial hand has a laminated structure of a silicone rubber layer and a thermoplastic rubber-like elastic material layer. A thermoplastic rubber-like elastic body layer may be provided only on the arm portion, and only the arm portion may have a laminated structure of two types of rubbers, or a silicone rubber layer may be provided from the hand portion to the front half of the arm portion. Provided, a thermoplastic rubber-like elastic body layer is provided only on the entire arm portion, or a silicone rubber layer is provided from the hand portion to the front half of the arm portion, but the thermoplastic rubber-like elastic body layer is provided over the entire prosthesis. It may be configured to be provided.

When the artificial hand of the present invention is placed in a heating device and heated to 100 to 140 ° C., the entire thermoplastic rubber-like elastic layer softens. Therefore, a male arm having the same tapered shape as the lower arm of the wearer is inserted into the arm of the prosthetic hand, and is heated, for example, for about another 15 minutes to remove distortion. After cooling to room temperature, the shape of the arm of the prosthesis is fixed as it is, so that the male arm is removed to obtain a prosthesis with an adjusted arm shape. In addition, the cooling rate at the time of this shape adjustment is not particularly limited, and natural cooling or rapid cooling using cold water may be used.

The prosthesis in which the shape of the arm constituting the mounting portion is adjusted so as to be compatible with the lower arm of the wearer is the same as a prosthesis having a single-layer structure formed using only liquid silicone rubber. In addition to having excellent texture, it maintains good flexibility and does not deform even after prolonged use.

The prosthetic brace according to the present invention has been described above as an example of a prosthetic hand. However, the brace for human prosthesis according to the present invention is not limited to a prosthetic hand. The prosthesis may be a prosthetic ear, a prosthetic nose to be worn on the nose, or the like, and may include any prosthetic brace as long as the concept of the present invention can be applied.

[0015]

EXAMPLE A two-part silicone rubber flesh-colored composition 2 was prepared in a metallic female mold for producing a prosthesis as shown in FIG.
Pour 00g, apply silicone rubber evenly to the inner surface of the mold and cure it. After confirming that the fluidity has disappeared, pour in the adhesive solution and apply evenly to the silicone rubber surface. Flowed out. After the adhesive is fixed, 300 g of a thermoplastic silicone rubber liquid (styrene-butyl acryl-modified silicone, trade name [M-POLYMER] sold by Japax Co., Ltd.) is poured, and the mold is rotated to form the silicone rubber. While adhering evenly on the inner surface and simultaneously removing the solvent, 100
Curing proceeded at 10 ° C. for 10 minutes. After the curing was completed, the end of the arm of the molded product taken out of the mold was cut off to obtain a prosthetic hand, which is the orthosis for human body prosthesis of the present invention.

On the other hand, without using a thermoplastic silicone rubber liquid, a conventional type comprising a single-layer molded article of silicone rubber by the above-mentioned female mold using only 300 g of the above-mentioned two-part silicone rubber flesh-colored composition. A prosthetic hand was manufactured and used as a control.

The diameter of the arm is enlarged in accordance with the following procedure (1) or (2) for the product of the present invention and the control product, and the outer diameter of the arm at each stage is measured. Tables 1 and 2 show the results of comparison with the outer diameter before processing.

[Post-processing test] (1) Place the prosthesis in a heating device at 100 ° C or 140 ° C,
After 5 minutes, a male arm having an outer diameter of 80 mm is inserted. After a lapse of 15 minutes, the male arm is removed and immediately cooled with 12 ° C. water to obtain an enlarged prosthetic hand. (2) Except for adopting the cooling method of allowing to cool for 1 hour,
The processing is performed in exactly the same manner as described above to obtain an enlarged prosthesis.

[0019]

[Table 1]

[Table 2]

From this result, it can be seen that, when the conventional artificial arm is inserted with the male arm, the diameter of the mounting portion is temporarily increased. However, when the male arm is removed, it immediately contracts to the original diameter. The prosthetic hand of the invention, the diameter of the mounting portion expanded by inserting a male arm type,
It can be seen that the diameter remains substantially the same after the cooling, as well as after the extraction of the male arm.

[0021]

According to the present invention, there is provided an orthosis for human body prosthesis having an attachment portion fitted to a part of a human body, wherein the attachment portion is formed of at least a thermoplastic rubber-like elastic body. By heating after being manufactured, the shape of the mounting portion can be changed and the mounting state can be finely adjusted. And since the mechanical properties and texture required for the prosthetic orthosis, or the color tone and the ease of handling are not impaired, there is an effect that long wearing can be spent comfortably, Even if there is a change in the body shape or the like after use, the wearing state can be easily readjusted, and there is also the effect of being economical.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prosthetic hand which is an example of a prosthesis for human body of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 silicone rubber layer 2 thermoplastic silicone rubber layer

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An orthosis having a mounting portion fitted to a part of a human body, wherein the mounting portion is formed of at least a thermoplastic rubber-like elastic body. 2. The mounting portion is formed of a laminate composed of a thermoplastic rubber-like elastic layer and a silicone rubber surface layer covering at least a part of the thermoplastic rubber-like elastic layer. The orthosis for human body prosthesis according to 4. 3. The thermoplastic rubber-like elastic body is a styrene-butyl acryl modified silicone rubber.
Or the orthosis for human body prosthesis according to 2. 4. The prosthetic device for a human body according to claim 1, wherein the part of the human body is a hand, and the device is a prosthesis. 5. The prosthesis for human body prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein a part of the human body is a finger, and the orthosis is a prosthetic finger. 6. The prosthetic device according to claim 1, wherein a part of the human body is an ear, and the device is a prosthesis. 7. The orthopedic prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein the part of the human body is a nose, and the orthosis is a prosthetic nose.