JP4398558B2 - Thumb joint orthosis - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the structure of a brace used when treating osteoarthritis of the osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, tendonitis, etc. by conservative therapy, or preventing these arthropathy and tendonitis.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The treatment of osteoarthritis of the large rhomboid metacarpal joint (referred to as “CM joint”) currently includes anti-inflammatory analgesics, brace therapy (conservative therapy), surgical therapy, etc. It is adopted as appropriate according to the weight or the stage of healing. Of these, brace therapy is often used in cases where patients do not wish to undergo surgery, for conservative treatment during the period up to surgery, for limited range of motion after surgery, for mild conditions, etc. It is a therapy.
[0003]
There are various types of braces used for brace therapy, depending on the symptoms and others, but they are all so-called hard braces that contain metal or hard plastic to fix the CM joint, and do not perform daily activities such as washing hands or grabbing objects. It was possible or difficult.
[0004]
In addition, unlike surgical treatment, orthodontic therapy is difficult to cure in a short period of time, but it is a hard orthosis and is troublesome, so many patients dislike long-term wearing. In addition, in the case of a hard orthosis, there are few cases that can flexibly cope with the difference in the shape of the affected part of the patient, and many of them are manufactured, so that they are likely to be expensive, and adjustment according to the healing stage is often difficult.
[0005]
Therefore, the present inventor manufactures one product according to the shape of the affected part without restricting the movement of the CM joint but not fixing it, and does not disturb the daily life operation, and does not use a hard member such as a metal support. Since it is not necessary, we have developed a compact, simple-structured device that can be made off-the-shelf and can be provided at low cost (Design Registration No. 957299). In addition, because of this structure, it is suitable not only for treatment but also for prevention.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
This orthosis is a combination of a thumb cap that completely wraps around the CM joint and a belt that circulates the wrist joint. After fixing the thumb cap, if you wind the belt around your wrist and fix it, you can adjust the hardness of the plastic material that forms the thumb cap to limit the CM joint movement, but do not fix it. Will be.
[0007]
However, in reality, when the hardness is determined on the assumption that the movement of the joint is regulated, the joint is too hard to bend and stretch, and the movement of the joint can be suitably regulated even with the greatest hardness within the range not compressed. It turned out that it was not reached.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
Therefore, the present inventor finally made the present invention as a result of earnest research in view of the above points, and the feature is that the tip of the thumb is exposed and the part of the thumb that exceeds the CM joint from the vicinity of the MP joint. And a belt for fixing the thumb cap by turning and locking the wrist joint, and the thumb cap is formed on a portion corresponding to the outer side of the thumb. It is in the point formed by the silicone rubber which includes a reinforcement cloth.
[0009]
In other words, the structure of the material of the thumb cap is devised so that the thumb cap that covers the CM joint and the belt that circulates around the wrist joint can provide sufficient effects within the range that does not interfere with daily activities. It can be said that there is. The outer part of the thumb is restricted from trying to stretch the cap itself, and the inner part is made of silicone rubber so that the restriction force is reduced. It is included.
[0010]
The present invention is not limited with respect to the silicone rubber employed in the present orthosis. Of course, 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 is true. However, since the holding force can be secured to some extent by the reinforcing cloth, a slightly soft silicone rubber can be used. In the range where the present inventors made a prototype, a non-foamed silicone rubber of about 40 to 60 degrees was suitable as a numerical value according to a JIS A (Shore A) rubber hardness inspection method.
[0011]
Further, the present invention is not particularly limited with respect to the reinforcing cloth. However, it is necessary to fit within the silicone rubber (that is, not to be exposed on both the front and back surfaces) and to have sufficient regulation power. Is not preferred. The present inventor adopted a cloth called “operon (manufactured by Toray DuPont Co., Ltd.)” that exhibits stretchability only in one direction at the stage of trial production, and obtained favorable results. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited in any way as to what method is adopted to enclose the reinforcing cloth in the silicone rubber. However, when the reinforcement cloth is exposed from the end of the tip of the thumb cap, the reinforcement cloth touches the skin when bending and extending the thumb MP joint, and the feeling of wearing is lost. An arrangement that does not reach this point is desirable.
[0012]
In many cases, the above-mentioned degenerative CM arthropathy, chronic rheumatoid arthritis, tendonitis, etc. are caused by local compression between the long thumb abductor tendon and the short thumb extensor tendon at the wrist joint. It was confirmed experimentally that the maximum pinch force increases and the instability of the thumb and difficulty of entering force are reduced when the movement is restricted. 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. Any material may be used for the pad, but silicone rubber is optimal in consideration of the familiarity with the skin, and the hardness is optimally softer than the thumb cap.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.
[0014]
1 and 2 show an example of a thumb joint orthosis 1 according to the present invention (hereinafter referred to as the present invention orthosis 1), FIG. 1 is a perspective view thereof, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a use state thereof. is there. As is apparent from these drawings, the orthosis 1 of the present invention is constituted by a thumb cap 2 having an irregular cylindrical shape and a belt 3 connected in the vicinity of the lower end of the thumb cap 2. The thumb cap 2 is made of non-foamed silicone rubber, but a reinforcing cloth 4 is embedded on one side thereof (the side that becomes the outer side when the device 1 of the present invention is mounted). As a result, the stretchability in the arrow direction A in the figure is different between the inner side and the outer side of the thumb cap 2 and has a property of “not easily stretchable” on the outer side. On the other hand, the inside is so-called “smoothly” that is soft and familiar with the skin. In addition, the presence of the reinforcing cloth 4 serves to improve 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 only “embedded” and is not exposed on 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 surface. Only silicone rubber is in contact with the skin when the thumb is bent and stretched.
[0015]
The belt 3 is fixed to the thumb cap 2 so as to be at an angle of about 130 degrees with the center line, the back surface (inner side) is the female side of the hook-and-loop fastener, and has some stretchability. It is what you have. The thumb cap 2 is not directly fixed to the belt 3. The thumb cap 2 is first fixed to the belt locking piece 5 with a hook 6 (eyelet-shaped hook), and the belt locking piece 5 is fixed to the belt 3. It connected by the method of stitching. The surface of the belt locking piece 5 is the male side of the hook-and-loop fastener, and the belt 3 having the wrist joint circulated is locked at the position of the belt locking piece 5.
[0016]
Next, FIGS. 3A and 3B schematically show the pad 7 which is a suitable member attached to the device 1 of the present invention and its attached state. The pad 7 has an elliptical columnar shape or a long columnar shape made of soft silicone rubber, and a fixing sheet 8 on the male side of the surface fastener is fixed to one surface of the pad 7. The fixing sheet 8 can be locked anywhere on the back surface of the belt 3 (which is the female side of the hook-and-loop fastener), so that the long thumb abductor tendon and the short thumb extensor tendon are pressed locally at the wrist joint. It becomes easy to place the pad 7 at a position suitable for the purpose of limiting the movement of the tendon. The pad 7 is not an indispensable member for the present invention. Further, in FIG. 5B, depiction of the belt locking piece 5 and the hook 6 is omitted.
[0017]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, the thumb joint orthosis according to the present invention includes a thumb cap that wraps the thumb from the vicinity of the MP joint to the portion beyond the CM joint with the tip exposed, and the wrist joint. And a belt for fixing the thumb cap by locking the thumb cap, and the thumb cap is formed of a silicone rubber containing a reinforcing cloth in a portion corresponding to the outer side of the thumb. This is an extremely advanced invention having various effects as described below.
[0018]
(1) Since it is a soft brace that does not use a metal column or the like, the wearing feeling is good.
(2) Since the thumb cap is made of silicone rubber, it fits well with the skin and hardly causes inflammation due to sweating.
(3) Since the reinforcing cloth is arranged outside the thumb cap, a predetermined regulation force can be obtained even if the hardness of the silicone rubber is softened, and the strength against deformation is ensured.
(4) Since it consists only of a thumb cap that covers the thumb joint and a belt that circulates around the wrist joint, it is lightweight and is not bulky, and does not hinder daily life operations.
[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. 3A and 3B show an example of an accessory of a thumb joint orthosis according to the present invention and a usage state thereof, FIG. 3A is a schematic perspective view, and FIG. 3B is a schematic plan view; is there.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 thumb joint orthosis according to the present invention 2 thumb cap 3 belt 4 reinforcing cloth 5 belt locking piece 6 hook 7 pad 8 fixing sheet

Claims (2)

Consists of a thumb cap that wraps the thumb from the vicinity of the MP joint to the portion beyond the CM joint with the tip exposed, and a belt that fixes the thumb cap by rotating it around the wrist joint A thumb joint orthosis characterized in that the thumb cap is formed of silicone rubber and includes a reinforcing cloth only in a portion corresponding to the outside of the thumb.   The thumb joint orthosis according to claim 1, wherein a pad intended to press the long thumb abductor tendon and the short thumb extensor tendon is detachably disposed on the back surface of the belt.

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