Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61H—PHYSICAL THERAPY APPARATUS, e.g. DEVICES FOR LOCATING OR STIMULATING REFLEX POINTS IN THE BODY; ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION; MASSAGE; BATHING DEVICES FOR SPECIAL THERAPEUTIC OR HYGIENIC PURPOSES OR SPECIFIC PARTS OF THE BODY
  • A61H9/00—Pneumatic or hydraulic massage
  • A61H9/005—Pneumatic massage
  • A61H9/0078—Pneumatic massage with intermittent or alternately inflated bladders or cuffs

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an improvement to massage devices with directional and periodic action of an organ, a limb or any other part of the human body.
• several massage devices are known which make it possible to exert pressure on the members of the human body and thus to cause the displacement of bodily fluids.
• sleeves are generally used intended to wrap or surround the member to be treated and having, for example, the shape of boots, gaiters or gloves when they have to adapt either to the lower limbs or to the upper limbs.
• Such sleeves are generally with double watertight walls, possibly internally subdivided into compartments insulated from one another, each comprising only an opening to the outside and the internal wall of which is made of elastic material or internally covered with elastic pipes closed at the one of their ends.
• these sleeves When these sleeves are placed around a member to be massaged, they allow, by injecting a fluid under pressure either in the space delimited by the two walls, or in the different compartments, or in the bundle of elastic pipes, to compress the wall internal elastic in contact with the limb in question and to repel bodily fluids towards the non-
• Massages with periodic and sliding action are thus obtained on one or more parts of the human body when such pipes are made or inserted into a cushion or mattress system intended to carry or apply to the area to be massaged or forming a sleeve, gutter or band intended to envelop or surround the organ or the member to be massaged.
• a liquid as compression fluid such as, for example, the device described in French Patent No.
• a pipe T as illustrated very diagrammatically in section in FIG. 2 and which is characterized in that it is made of a flexible and elastic material but the thickness of this material varies from one end to the other . In the case of the pipe of this figure 2, this thickness varies gradually and regularly decreasing from the end A to the end B. It is also assumed that the end B can be obstructed.
• Such volumes or enclosures may for example consist of cylindrical sleeves having two walls spaced from one another, between which a fluid can be admitted, at least one of these walls, for example the internal wall, having the characteristics stated above, the other may be rigid. It is also possible to produce bands, cushions and cushions as well as mateias, the structure of which will meet the criteria for variations of expansion coefficients at the desired locations to obtain the desired result.
• a massage device can be produced using, as a means for exerting pressure on the area of the human body to be massaged, at least one element intended to act on part or all of this area under the action of '' a fluid exerting a thrust on this element, the latter being characterized by the fact that it consists of an enclosure, at least the wall of which intended to exert said pressure is made of a flexible and elastic material having a coefficient of expansion not identical to itself and not constant over its entire surface.
• the enclosure in question affects the shape of a sleeve intended to surround the member or to wrap the part of the body to be massaged or the shape of a cushion, a mattress or the like, the wall in contact with said limb or with said part of the body, having zones of variable deformations or else zones of different deformations under the action of said pressure distributed over the extent of said surface in an irregular manner but meeting a criterion of profile massage previously established.
• said enclosure results from the juxtaposition of a bundle of tubes supplied by the same source of compression fluid and whose walls in contact with the part of the body to be massaged, have coefficients of expansion or different deformation, from one segment to another.
• the invention covers a massage device whose active part responsible for the massage effect comprises a ply having segments of a material having different deformation coefficients from one segment to another or from one group of segments to another.
• the wall which constitutes the element intended to exert the desired pressure on the zone to be massaged comprises a succession of zones with or without a solution of continuity which can themselves respond to one or more of the following characteristics: -They are formed by raised segments relative to the normal normal plane of said wall
• -Differences of deformations are due to the nature of the material of each zone and / or to its structure and / or to its own physical characteristics or to some which are specially conferred on it.
• the bags or cells communicating with each other result from the joining by points of two layers of material, at least one of which is flexible and elastic.
• the materials constituting the two plies which are made integral with one another by contact points regularly or irregularly distributed over their surface are chosen from materials having the same coefficients of expansion or deformation or coefficients different .
• the most flexible and most elastic material is chosen to constitute the largest surface area of the wall of the enclosure intended to be located on the side of the area to be massaged.
• FIG. 1 is the diagram of a sheet of a material having zones of different coefficients of expansion or deformation
• FIG. 2 is, as seen above, a very schematic illustration of a pipe according to the invention.
• FIG. 3 is a schematic section of a massage cushion implementing the invention.
• FIG. 4 is a schematic longitudinal section of a boot that can serve as a massage device for the foot and leg
• FIG. 5 represents an example of a variant for the implementation of the invention affecting the shape of a waders (in perspective with partial cutaway) used for the massage of the lower limbs.
• - Figure 6 is a schematic sectional elevation illustrating the application of the embodiment of such a thigh piece, during a massage but before the admission of the massage fluid.
• FIG. 7 is a view corresponding to FIG. 6 in one of the stages after the admission of said fluid.
• Figure 4 illustrates in detail a "boot", the outer wall C of which is made of a relatively rigid material and inside which is a bottom-shaped element (Ba) with a double wall. .
• the outer wall D of this bottom remote from the wall C is made of a flexible and elastic material, but the coefficient of expansion of which varies over the entire extent of its surface.
• This variation is shown in the drawing by a variation in the thickness of this wall from the upper zone, to the lowest zone the internal wall D1 of said bottom in contact with the leg J is also made of a flexible material having or not the same coefficient of deformation over its entire surface.
• a fluid admitted into volume E, delimited by the two walls D and D1, by an orifice at A while an orifice at F is closed will have the consequence of acting on the wall D with an expansion progression as a function of the thickness gradient of this wall until it abuts against C; the local "hernia” thus formed creates a counter reaction being felt on the leg J by means of the wall D 1 with a pressure generated by the deformation of the wall D specific to each zone affected all along the leg. The pressure is released and the operations of pressurizing and decompressing the boot are continued to obtain an effective massage that is modulated and sliding at the desired locations and corresponding to the different thicknesses of the wall D.
• FIG. 3 there is shown the possibility of producing a mattress or a cushion M, of periodic and sliding massage using a bundle of tubes T which can be closed at one end to inflate, then be opened for the deflation thus translating a periodic massage, either to be open at the two ends for a free circulation of the compressor fluid according to the phenomenon exploited in the apparatus which is the subject of the patent application of November 21, 1988 - no 8816773 - recalled below- above .
• the sliding effect is reinforced by variation of the expansion coefficients of the walls of the tubes T.
• These tubes are connected to the same inlet A and / or outlet B.
• walls can be produced having, over the entire extent of their area, zones of various coefficient of expansion, as shown in FIG. 1, on which we see:
• waders can be made to the desired shape by means of two plies 1 and 2 preferably chosen from flexible and elastic materials having coefficients of expansion or deformation identical or not. These two layers are joined by points distributed regularly or not according to a pre-studied or not diagram such as the points P illustrated in the figure in question thus forming a succession of bags or cells 5 communicating with each other.
• prestressed thus offering the user of a massage device produced in this way a wider range of pressure variations on the surface of the body to be massaged and this with a unique elastic material chosen for the manufacture of waders or any other device.
• Such "prestressing” can be imparted by any known method not falling within the scope of the present invention but generally based on the principle of printing an elongation or a stretch on the walls of the bag considered within the limits of the physical characteristics of the material. involved and this prior to making or during the making of said bag.
• the contact points P between these layers may be produced by any suitable means such as welding, bonding, sewing, etc.

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Epidemiology (AREA)
• Pain & Pain Management (AREA)
• Physical Education & Sports Medicine (AREA)
• Rehabilitation Therapy (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
• Massaging Devices (AREA)
• Percussion Or Vibration Massage (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (1)

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

Cited By (1)

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Citations (6)

Family Cites Families (1)

• 1990
  • 1990-03-14 FR FR9003501A patent/FR2659549B2/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1990-11-27 DE DE69011342T patent/DE69011342D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1990-11-27 JP JP3500669A patent/JPH05502174A/ja active Pending
  • 1990-11-27 EP EP91900035A patent/EP0504195B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1990-11-27 WO PCT/FR1990/000851 patent/WO1991007939A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 1990-11-27 CA CA002069732A patent/CA2069732A1/fr not_active Abandoned
  • 1990-11-27 AU AU68926/91A patent/AU6892691A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1990-11-27 AT AT91900035T patent/ATE109345T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation

Patent Citations (6)

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