WO2005041841A1

WO2005041841A1 - Limb support

Info

Publication number: WO2005041841A1
Application number: PCT/FI2004/050154
Authority: WO
Inventors: Olli Santanen
Original assignee: Remedoc Oy
Priority date: 2003-10-31
Filing date: 2004-10-29
Publication date: 2005-05-12
Also published as: FI20031577A0; FI20031577A

Abstract

The object of this invention is to create a limb support which can be used e.g. during the preoperative antibacterial skin wash of patient’s limb. According to the invention, the limb support is of the kind in which the base is in one vertical plane tilt supported and in the respective verticuloperpendicular plane freely tilting. In this way the limb support becomes stable and easy to use.

Description

Limb support

The present invention relates to a limb support defined in the preamble of claim 1.

Supporting of a patient's limb in a raised position during the preoperative antibacterial skin wash is typically muscular work for an assisting person. The assisting person supports the extremity of the patient's limb that has been pre-washed by antiseptic liquid (alcohol etc.) with sterile gloves for example from fingers, toes, wrist or ankle as long as the washer has completed the skin wash and the antiseptic liquid has vaporised until such an extent that the stickers of the protective operation garments adhere properly to the skin. The limb supporting is physically strenuous since it is static and lasts normally about ten minutes; the supporting is especially strenuous if the person supporting the limb has weak muscles and the patient's limb is heavy.

As a congruent characteristic for the known limb supports made for surgical operation room usage is that they have been designed to support the patient's limb during usually long lasting surgical operations, and that the limb supporting plane of the apparatus is extensive compared to the size of the limb in order to minimize the risk for decubital ulcers, and that they have not been designed to support the patient's limb during the preoperative antibacterial skin wash. Thus, it is difficult or impossible to place the limb and the limb support to a position needed for the preoperative antibacterial skin wash, and the extensive limb supporting plane of an apparatus compared to the size of the limb and the base of the apparatus hinders the preoperative antibacterial skin wash.

The object of this invention is to remove these inconveniences and to create a stable and easy to use limb support with the help of which the placing of patient's limb to an optimal position for preoperative antibacterial skin wash and the subsequent limb supporting is easy for the user and at the same time causes as little inconvenience as possible when washing the limb. The object of the invention is that patient's limb can be supported by the aid of the invention either so that the assisting person holds the extremity of the patient's upper or lower limb with sterile gloves and at the same time rests his/hers wrist on the limb supporting part of the apparatus, or so that the extremity of patient's limb, pre-washed by antiseptic agent, rests on the limb supporting part of the apparatus, which is covered by a sterile operation garment, without the assisting person's securing touch. According to the invention these objects can be met with an apparatus in which the base of the limb support is tilt supported in one vertical plane, and in the respective perpendiculovertical plane freely tilting, and the part truly supporting the limb, the limb supporting part, gives an essentially local support for the limb to be supported.

In this context essentially local support implies a support that makes the tilting of the limb support possible in a clinical situation, so that the part truly supporting the limb covers a relatively small area of the supported limb. This can be carried out for example with the help of a linear support which can be materialized for example with a fork like structure.

One advantage achieved by the invention is that during the antiseptic skin wash the assisting person can move the limb supporting part e.g. between patient's calf and ankle only by tilting the apparatus. Therefore, there is no need to raise the whole apparatus off the floor and move it to another location or, respectively, drag the apparatus along the floor.

More exactly, characteristic to the limb support according to the invention is what is presented in the characterising part of claim 1.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the advantages can be achieved, depending on the way in which the apparatus is used, by diminishing the contact area of the limb support against either patient's limb or user's arm, by adjusting the supporting shaft with e.g. telescopic structure, and by the base structure that both holds the patient's limb in a lateral direction and is easy to move with the user's foot in relation to the floor.

Diminishing the contact area of the limb supporting part of the apparatus makes it possible to support the limb from its extremity so that it does not hinder antibacterial skin wash or washer's movement from one side of the limb to another. The limb supporting part of the apparatus has raised edges on both sides that prevent patient's limb from sliding in lateral direc- tion. The limb supporting part of the apparatus has rounded figure or it is covered e.g. with foamed plastic pad to avoid decubital ulcers in the supported limb.

A telescopic supporting shaft is advantageously equipped with a quick release locking mechanism which makes adjustability of the raised position of a patient's limb possible and easy so that the user is able to lengthen the supporting shaft by pulling the upper part of the supporting shaft upward without touching the locking mechanism. Instead shortening of the supporting shaft requires only opening of the locking mechanism. In addition, the supporting shaft can be bent essentially from its axial direction which results to that the gravity of pa- tient's limb is possible to direct favourably and the supporting shaft gets reachability, which helps the use of the apparatus e.g. from the end of the operating table.

The loop or arch like structure in the base of the limb support makes it possible that the user can easily move the apparatus on the floor with his/her foot. This loop or arch like structure can resemble e.g. a semicircle or a triangle. Wing like parts are connected to both sides of the base structure which prevent the apparatus from tilting in the lateral direction relative to the patient's limb. Friction material in the floor contact surface of the base prevents the apparatus from sliding on the floor in the direction of the patient's limb.

In the following, the invention is described more precisely while referring to the attached figures which demonstrate certain limb support embodiments. Consistent numbering is used both in figure 1 and figure 2.

In figure 1, the limb supporting part 1 of the limb support is formed of a tube 4, which is bent essentially into the form of a half circle, which is covered with a tubular foamed plastic pad 5. When a patient's limb is placed on the limb supporting part of the apparatus, the shortness of the limb supporting part in relation to the limb in a free tilting direction results to a minimal limb contact area, thus enabling a more extensive washing area for an antibacterial skin wash and making the tilting of the apparatus in a clinical situation possible. The pad gives comfort and safety for the usage.

A limb supporting tube 4 is attached to a square tube that comprises an upper part 6 of the supporting shaft, and which is attached to a square tube in an approximately 45 degree angle, which square tube comprises the lower part 7 of the upper element of the supporting shaft, which slides into a lower element 23 of the supporting shaft. The crosscut of the supporting shaft 2 can be e.g. round, ellipse, rectangular, hexagon or other form, and when necessary there can be a longitudinal groove or corresponding either on the inner or in the outer tube which prevents them from rotating in relation to each other. When a limb is placed on the limb support, the limb gives support in the freely tilting direction and, with the aid of the 45 degree angle, the force of the limb that burdens the supporting shaft can be favourably directed in relation to the floor. The purpose of the favourable force direction with the aid of the structure is to minimise the risk of sliding of the limb support on the floor.

In an inside sliding part 7 of the supporting shaft, several square flaps 8 is pressed which bend into the tube from their lower borders. In the lower element 23 of the supporting shaft, to the front side of its upper part, two pairs of smallish sheets 12 and 17, which have holes of the same size, are attached in pairs on the same level. Between the upper pair of sheets 12 there is an approximately triangle shaped locking bolt 14 which has a drilled hole in it. A screw bolt or corresponding is pushed through the upper pair of steel sheets 12 and the locking bolt 14 and screwed into a nut 13. Between the lower pair of sheets 17 there is an additional locking bolt 20 where is a hole and to which a lengthening piece 21 is attached. A screw bolt or corresponding, the other end of which is screwed into a nut 19, is pushed through the lower pair of sheets 17 and the additional locking bolt 20. Ends of a connecting rod 16 which is bent into a 90 degree angle are pushed through the holes of the locking bolt 14 and the additional locking bolt 20 and screwed into nuts 15 and 18. There is a drilled hole in the lengthening piece 21 of the additional locking bolt on the side of the supporting shaft 23, into which a spring 22 is placed which forces the lengthening piece 21 away from the supporting shaft 23 and thus tends to press the locking bolt 14 via connecting rod 16 into the square flaps 8 of the upper element of the supporting shaft and prevents the shortening of the supporting shaft. With the help of the lengthening piece 21 a nurse, for example, is able to release the locking mechanism by pressing with her/his knee, thus her/his both hands are available e.g. to adjust the length of the apparatus with one hand and to support patient's limb with another.

There is a plug 10 up on the back side of the lower element 23 of the supporting shaft which functions as a grip for lifting. The base 3 comprises a sheet 25 which, when bent, forms an arch like structure and is attached to the lower end 23 of the supporting shaft and is placed symmetrically to the central part of the bottom sheet 24 which comes to contact with the floor, and to which a friction material sheet 26 of the same length and width is attached. There might be e.g. suction cups attached to the bottom of the sheet 24 to achieve the friction effect. Because of the structure a nurse can set her/his foot inside the arch like structure and therefore the apparatus becomes easy to support and move around e.g. in lateral direction. In the following a limb support according to the invention is presented as an example slightly more accurately still referring to the figure 1.

The limb supporting part 1 of the limb support is comprised by a steel tube 4 which is bent essentially into the form of a half circle and which is preferably made of stainless steel. In an exemplary embodiment the wall thickness of the steel tube is 1 mm, the outer diameter 20 mm and the straightened length is about 300 mm. When bent into the shape of a half circle, the width and height of the object is 200 mm and 100 mm, respectively. The steel tube 4 is covered with a tubular foamed plastic pad 5. The steel tube 4, which supports the limb, is joi- ned by welding to a steel square tube, the outer dimension and wall thickness of which is 20 mm and 1 mm, respectively, and the end of which is cut in a 45 degree angle, and which forms the upper part 6 of the supporting shaft. This upper part 6 of the supporting shaft is preferably made of the same stainless steel as the steel tube 4 which supports the limb. The upper part 6 of the upper element of the supporting shaft is joined by welding in a 45 degree angle to a square tube which is preferably made of the same stainless steel, and the outer dimension and wall thickness of which is 20 mm and 1 mm, respectively, and which forms the lower part 7 of upper element of the supporting shaft, which slides into the lower element of the supporting shaft - the body element 23. This 45 degree angle is directed so that it forms an essentially 90 degree angle in relation to the base in a vertical plane. There is naturally many ways to build the 45 degree angle. It is, however, advantageous to cut both of the tubes to a 22.5 degree angle, then the tubes can be welded tightly together. The sliding of the upper element 7 of the supporting shaft entirely out from the body element 23 is advantageously prevented by a plastic stopper 9 which is attached to the body element with the help of a hole 11. Square flaps 8 in the size of 10 mm x 10 mm which bend into the tube from their lower borders are pressed at 80 mm intervals on the inside sliding part 7 of the supporting shaft. The body element 23, the width and wall thickness of which is 25 mm and 1 mm, respectively, is made of the same stainless steel square tube as the upper element. Two pairs of steel sheets 12 and 17 with drilled holes of 5 mm in diameter are joined in pairs on the same level at 10 mm distance from each other by welding to the front side of the body element 23 at 40 mm and 240 mm distance from its upper end. Between the upper pair of sheets 12 there is an approximately triangle shaped locking bolt 14 which is made of plastic sheet and which has a drilled hole of 5 mm in diameter. A screw bolt, the outer diameter of which is 5 mm, is pushed through the upper pair of steel sheets 12 and the locking bolt 14 and screwed lightly into a nut 13, the inner diameter of which is 5mm. Between the lower pair of steel sheets 17 there is an additional locking bolt 20 which is made of plastic sheet and which has a drilled hole of 5 mm in diameter. The additional locking bolt 20 is attached to a lengthening piece 21. A screw bolt, the outer diameter of which is 5 mm, is pushed through the lower pair of steel sheets 17 and the additional locking bolt 20 and screwed into a nut 19, the inner diameter of which is 5 mm. The ends of the 4 mm in diameter connecting rod 16 which is prepared with threads and bent into a 90 degree angle is pushed through the 4 mm holes of both the locking bolt 14 and the additional locking bolt 20 and screwed into the nuts 15 and 18, the inner diameters of which are 4 mm. Into the lengthening piece of the additional locking bolt 21 on the side of the supporting shaft 23 a 3 mm deep hole of 5 mm in diameter is drilled, into which a spring 22 of 5 mm in outer diameter is placed. The said spring forces the lengthening piece 21 away from the supporting shaft 23 and thus tends via connecting rod 16 to press the locking bolt 14 into the square flaps 8 of the upper element of the supporting shaft and prevents the shortening of the supporting shaft. A 50 mm long and 10 mm in its outer diameter sized steel plug 10, which functions as a grip for lifting, is joined by welding to the back side of the lower ele- ment 23 of the supporting shaft 40 mm away from its upper end. The lower end of the lower element 23 of the supporting shaft is joined by welding to a steel sheet 25 the thickness, length and width of which is 1.5 mm, 20 mm and about 300 mm, respectively, and which when bent forms an arch like structure, the height and width of which is 120 mm and 150 mm, respectively. The steel sheet 25 which forms the arch like structure of the base 3 is joined symmetrically by welding to the central part of the bottom steel sheet 24 the thickness, length and width of which is 2 mm, 25 mm and about 500 mm, respectively. A rubber sheet 26 of the same length and width, the thickness of which is 3 mm, is glued to the bottom side of the steel sheet 24 which comes to contact with the floor.

Figure 2 presents a limb support according to the invention in which the base 3 is slightly different from the base presented in figure 1. In figure 2, the arch structure of the base is changed to the form of a triangle, while the principle of function stays the same as in the example in figure 1. In addition, the friction material 26 is presented in figure 2 as two distinct objects. The locking mechanism of the supporting shaft 2 which is presented in figure 2 is different from the one presented in figure 1 in a way that a spring 220 has replaced the spring 22. The spring 220 is a torsion spring, not the normal compression spring as in figure 1. The spring 220 can also be placed in contact with the locking bolt 14. Within the frames of the invention, it is possible to think different kinds of applications than the above presented.

Claims

1. Limb support comprising: - a shaft; - a limb supporting part at the upper end of the shaft; a base at the lower end of the shaft, which is tilt supported in one vertical plane; characterized in that, the base is in relation to the supported vertical plane freely tilting in the respective perpendiculovertical plane, and that the limb supporting part gives an essentially local support to the limb to be supported.

2. A limb support according to claim 1, characterized in that, the upper end of the said shaft extends to the other freely tilting direction of the said base.

3. A limb support according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, the said limb supporting part has raised edges on both sides in the direction of width of the limb support .

4. A limb support according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that, the said limb supporting part is padded.

5. A limb support according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that, the length of the said shaft is telescopically adjustable.

6. A limb support according to claim 5, characterized in that, the said limb support can be freely lengthened by pulling and shortened by opening the locking mechanism.

7. A limb support according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that, in the inner tube or rod (7) of the said telescopically adjustable shaft (2) there is in a longitudinal direction flaps, cuts, holes or corresponding (8), into which one or several locking bolt(s), which is attached to the outer shaft, enter(s) with the force of a spring (14) or corresponding, thus preventing the sliding of the inner tube into the outer one.

8. A limb support according to claim 7, characterized in that, the said locking bolt (14) is connected with a rod or wire or corresponding to an additional locking bolt (20), with the help of which the said locking bolt can be opened.

9. A limb support according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that, there is friction material or suction cups on the floor contact surface (26) of the said base.

10. A limb support according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that, the said base (3) comprises an arch like structure (25).

11. A limb support according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that, the said base (3) comprises a horizontal tube, rod, profile or corresponding (24), which comes to contact with the floor and which is perpendicular to the supported limb.

12. A limb support according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that, either the imier or the outer tube of the said shaft has a longitudinal groove or corresponding which prevents the rotation of the inner and outer tube in relation to each other.

13. A limb support according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that, the cross- cut of the said shaft is essentially ellipse or angular.