JP2001218781A - Device for thumb joint - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device used in treating deforming CM arthrosis, chronic CM rheumatism and tenosynitis, etc., by a conservative treatment method or in preventing the arthrosis and tenosynitis. SOLUTION: The device is constituted of a thumb cap for wrapping the thumb from the vicinity of the MP joint to a part exceeding a CM joint in the state of exposing a tip and a belt for fixing the thumb cap by being put around a wrist joint and locked. For the thumb cap, the part equivalent to the outer side of the thumb is formed of silicone rubber incorporating reinforcing cloth.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a structure of a brace used for treating congenital CM osteoarthritis, chronic CM rheumatism, tenosynovitis, etc. by conservative treatment, or for preventing these arthrosis or tenosynovitis. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, a rhomboid metacarpal joint (referred to as "CM
The treatment of osteoarthritis of the "joint") includes the use of anti-inflammatory analgesics, bracing therapy (conservative therapy), surgical therapy, etc.
It is appropriately adopted depending on the severity of the symptoms or the stage of healing. Among them, orthotics are often used when the patient does not want surgery, for conservative treatment until surgery, for limited range of motion after surgery, for mild symptoms, and so on. Therapy.

There are various types of braces used for bracing therapy, depending on the symptoms and the like. All are so-called hard braces including metal or hard plastic for fixing CM joints, and are used in daily life such as washing hands and grasping objects. Operation was impossible or difficult.

[0004] In addition, unlike orthopedic therapy, orthopedic therapy is hard to cure in a short period of time, but is a hard orthosis and is troublesome, so many patients dislike long-term wearing. In the case of a hard orthosis, it is rarely possible to flexibly cope with the difference in the shape of the affected part of the patient, and in many cases, the product is manufactured as a single item, so that it tends to be expensive, and adjustment in accordance with the healing stage is often difficult.

Therefore, the present inventor restricted the movement of the CM joint but did not fix it, did not hinder daily activities, and did not use a hard member such as a metal column, and did not use a hard member such as a metal column to fit the shape of the affected part. A brace with a compact size and a simple structure has been developed (design registration No. 957299), which does not need to be manufactured, and which can be commercialized and provided at low cost. In addition, because of such a structure, it is suitable for use not only for treatment but also for prevention.

[0006]

In this orthosis, a thumb cap for completely wrapping around a CM joint is connected to a belt for orbiting a wrist joint. If the belt is wrapped around the wrist after the thumb cap is fitted and fixed, the hardness of the plastic material forming the thumb cap is adjusted to restrict the movement of the CM joint but not to fix it properly. Will be.

However, in practice, when the hardness is determined on the premise that the movement of the joint is regulated, the joint is too hard to bend and stretch too much. Turned out to be under control.

[0008]

In view of the above, the present inventor has finally made the present invention as a result of intensive research, and the feature of the present invention is that the thumb is moved to the MP with the tip exposed. A thumb cap that wraps around from the vicinity of the joint to a portion beyond the CM joint, and a belt that fixes the thumb cap by rotating and locking the wrist joint. Is formed by a silicone rubber including a reinforcing cloth in a portion corresponding to the outside of the thumb.

That is, in order to obtain a sufficient effect as long as daily life movement is not hindered by the thumb cap covering the vicinity of the CM joint and the belt circling around the wrist joint, the material structure of the thumb cap is devised. It can be said that it is. On the outside of the thumb, the cap itself is restricted from elongating, and on the inside, a reinforcing cloth is used for the part corresponding to the outside of the thumb, so that the whole is made of silicone rubber so that the regulating force is small. It is included.

The present invention is not limited with respect to the silicone rubber employed in the device of the present invention. Naturally, when the hardness is high, the holding power is improved, but the feeling of wearing is inferior, and when the hardness is low, the opposite occurs. However, since the holding force can be secured to some extent by the reinforcing cloth, it is possible to use a slightly softer silicone rubber. In the range produced by the present inventor, non-foamed silicone rubber having a numerical value according to JIS A (Shore A) rubber hardness test of about 40 to 60 degrees was suitable.

The present invention is not particularly limited with respect to the reinforcing cloth. However, it must be one that fits in the silicone rubber (that is, it is not exposed on the front and back surfaces), and it must have sufficient regulating power. Is not preferred. The inventor of the present invention used a fabric called "Operon" (manufactured by Du Pont-Toray Co., Ltd.) showing elasticity in only one direction at the stage of trial production, and obtained favorable results. Note that the present invention does not limit what method is used for enclosing the reinforcing cloth in the silicone rubber. However, when the reinforcing cloth is exposed from the end of the tip of the thumb cap, the reinforcing cloth touches the skin when bending and extending the thumb MP joint and impairs wearing comfort. Arrangement that does not reach is desirable.

It should be noted that osteoarthritis and chronic C
In many cases, M rheumatism, tendonitis, and the like, when the wrist joint locally compresses the long abductor tendon and the extensor tendon extensor tendon to restrict the movement of the tendon, increase the maximum pinch force. It was also confirmed experimentally that the instability of the thumb and the difficulty in applying power were reduced. Therefore, the present invention includes an invention in which a pad for the above purpose is detachably disposed on the back surface of the belt. The pad may be made of any material, but silicone rubber is optimal in consideration of the familiarity with the skin, and its hardness is optimally softer than that of the thumb cap.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an example of a thumb joint orthosis 1 (hereinafter referred to as the orthosis 1 of the present invention) according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the orthosis, and FIG. It is a perspective view. As is clear from these figures, the device 1 of the present invention
Is constituted by a thumb cap 2 having a distorted cylindrical shape and a belt 3 connected near the lower end of the thumb cap 2. The thumb cap 2 is made of non-foamed silicone rubber.
Reinforcement cloth 4 is embedded in the outer side when mounted). As a result, the elasticity in the arrow direction A in the figure is different between the inside and outside of the thumb cap 2, and has a property of “extremely difficult” on the outside. On the other hand, the inside is so-called "soft" that is soft and familiar with the skin. In addition, the presence of the reinforcing cloth 4 originally contributes to improving the strength of the silicone rubber which is originally low in strength against deformation (ie, fragile). In this example, since the silicone rubber is made translucent, the reinforcing cloth 4 can be observed to some extent. However, the reinforcing cloth 4 is merely "embedded" and is not exposed to the surface layer of the thumb cap 2. Moreover, in the case of this example, the reinforcing cloth 4 does not reach the tip of the thumb cap 2 and the cloth material is not exposed on both the front and back surfaces and the end surfaces. Only the silicone rubber comes into contact with the skin when bending and extending the thumb.

The belt 3 is fixed to the thumb cap 2 so as to be at an angle of about 130 degrees with respect to the center line, the back surface (inside) is the female side of the hook-and-loop fastener, and the belt It has elasticity. Also the thumb cap 2
Is not directly fixed to the belt 3 and the thumb cap 2
Was fixed to the belt locking piece 5 with a hook 6 (eyelet-shaped hook), and the belt locking piece 5 was connected to the belt 3 by a method of sewing. The surface of the belt locking piece 5 is on the male side of the hook-and-loop fastener, and the belt 3 around the wrist is locked at this belt locking piece 5 position.

FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) schematically show a pad 7 which is a suitable member attached to the orthosis 1 of the present invention and a mounting state thereof. The pad 7 has an elliptical or long cylindrical shape made of soft silicone rubber, and a fixing sheet 8 which is a male surface fastener is fixed to one surface thereof. The fixing sheet 8 is a belt 3
It can be locked anywhere on the back (the female side of the hook-and-loop fastener), so that the wrist joint locally compresses the elbow abductor tendon and the extensor tendon extensor tendon to limit the movement of the tendon The arrangement of the pad 7 at a position suitable for the purpose becomes easy.
The pad 7 is not an indispensable member of the present invention. In FIG. 2B, the illustration of the belt locking piece 5 and the hook 6 is omitted.

[0017]

As described in detail above, in the thumb joint orthosis according to the present invention, the thumb is moved to the M position while the tip is exposed.
A thumb cap that wraps around from the vicinity of the P joint to a portion beyond the CM joint, and a belt that fixes the thumb cap by rotating and locking the wrist joint. The cap is characterized by being formed of a silicone rubber enclosing a reinforcing cloth in a portion corresponding to the outside of the thumb, and is a very advanced invention having various effects as described below.

(1) Since the brace is a soft brace that does not use a metal support or the like, the feeling of wearing is good. (2) Since the thumb cap is made of silicone rubber, it fits well with the skin and is less likely to cause inflammation due to sweating. (3) Since the reinforcing cloth is disposed outside the thumb cap, a predetermined regulating force can be obtained even if the hardness of the silicone rubber is softened, and the strength against deformation is secured. (4) Since it is composed only of the thumb cap that covers the thumb joint and the belt that goes around the wrist, it is lightweight and not bulky.
It is hard to hinder daily activities.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a thumb joint orthosis according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a required state of the thumb joint orthosis according to the present invention.

FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) show an example of accessories of the thumb joint orthosis according to the present invention and a use state thereof. FIG.
Is a schematic perspective view, and (b) is a schematic plan view.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thumb joint orthosis according to the present invention 2 Thumb cap 3 Belt 4 Reinforcement cloth 5 Belt locking piece 6 Hook 7 Pad 8 Fixing sheet

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. The thumb is exposed to the MP while the tip is exposed.
A thumb cap that wraps around from the vicinity of the joint to a portion beyond the CM joint, and a belt that fixes the thumb cap by rotating and locking the wrist joint. Is a thumb joint orthosis characterized by being formed of silicone rubber including a reinforcing cloth in a portion corresponding to the outside of the thumb. 2. The belt according to claim 1, wherein a pad for compressing the abductor long extensor tendon and the extensor tendon extensor tendon is detachably disposed on the back surface of the belt. Thumb joint orthosis.