WO2008019692A1

WO2008019692A1 - Leg support

Info

Publication number: WO2008019692A1
Application number: PCT/DK2007/000377
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lars Christian Holm Johansen
Original assignee: Lars Christian Holm Johansen
Priority date: 2006-08-18
Filing date: 2007-08-17
Publication date: 2008-02-21
Also published as: DK176463B1; DK200601082A

Abstract

The invention is a leg-rest for the lower legs and feet formed as a hammock with a bottom, 2 sides and a backside, the bottom mainly being a wooden/plastic shell lined with a soft material, as a horizontal support sheet for the lower legs and feet and by assembling in elevation, height adjusted to the body of the user, over the level from which the user is lying on his back, and said leg-rest is mainly intended for attachment in vehicles, essentially in the back-seat area and by attachment-devices, typically on the ceiling handles placed over the side windows in the back-seat area, in the form of mainly height adjustable hooks, velcro or similar. Now, after many hours of driving, there is the possibility for the user to take a power-nap, when lying on his back in the back-seat of the car with the legs placed in the leg-rest with approximately 90 degrees of flexion in the knee and hip joints, a maximum reduction of the pressure in the cartilage discs between the vertebras can be obtained.

Description

Leg-rest

Because uncomfortable and physically inappropriate working postures today are widespread there is a latent need for focus on the physical strains to which we often run the risk of exposing our bodies.

We sit down a lot - be it at work and not least during transportation, e.g. when driving. That is why the invention is very suitable to reduce the strains caused by these situations. The invention is a leg-rest for lower legs and feet formed as a hammock mainly for attachment in car- cabins. When you have been driving for many hours you can now take an effective power-nap: you lie down on your back on the back-seat of the car with the lower legs elevated horizontally in the leg-rest, with approximately 90 degrees of flexion in the knee and hip joints which permits a maximum reduction of the pressure in the cartilage-discs between the vertebras.

Just to mention a few of the obvious advantages by using the invention:

• The columna vertebra and the back-muscles will be relaxed.

• The relaxation allows for a quicker transition to power-nap rest.

• The elevation of the lower legs reduces the swelling of the legs. • The elevation of the lower legs leads to the neutralization or normalisation of any low blood pressure in the brain when in upright position.

• Too pronounced flexion especially in the knees is avoided when e.g. you lie down on the backseat of a car. This flexion might otherwise cause pain and unrest in the knees and lead to pressure on the nerves and the blood vessels in the lower legs, e.g. restless legs and temporary paresis.

These disadvantages are well-known and there is a latent need for avoiding these conditions more actively. This invention will contribute to the improvement of this situation. Transportation of the invention is an obvious possibility due to the physical size and the light weight.

The invention can be attached with height adjustable hooks, typically on the rear handles in the ceiling of the cabin so that the leg-rest can offer a wide range of variation for users of different physical size.

Further, velcro tape can be used for the attachment and you can thus adjust the height as well. With the latter application the leg-rest can be used in completely different places and not only where the attachment with hooks is most practical. At the same time the leg-rest is simple to mount and dismount . The bottom in which the lower legs should rest is mainly made of a wooden/plastic shell lined with a soft material.

During transport the leg-rest is folded so that only the physical dimension of the bottom is taking up room. JP 4066229 describes a foot-rest which e.g. can be mounted on a chair in front of the user. The rest has a bottom onto part of which is bent up and forms the sides of the rest. On these sides straps are attached which can be adjusted in length by clips. In order to secure the rest on e.g. a chair, hooks have been fastened to the straps. The straps can be adjusted in length by means of clips.

In his presentation, the inventor of JP 4066229 has exemplified the functionality of his invention as a support for his legs by attaching it to a (flight) seat in front of the one in which he is sitting, and the functionality of the invention is directly conditional on the user sitting upright, whereas the present invention is mainly intended for a user in a lying position, typically in the backseat of a car- cabin, and whereby the differences in the construction forms may be explained by the original purpose of the inventions. The present invention differs from the technique of JP 4066229 by having a bottom plate mainly made of plastic, a backside and a crossbar.

WO 2005/030525 concerns a leg-rest in a car. However, this invention is a sort of a module built into the car in question and, thus, not portable and with no accessories.

DE29717916U1 is a seat product, i.e. a package solution to be installed by the car manufacturer. These 2 examples are solely targeted towards more or less complicated installations in vehicles, while the present invention is a portable device which can also be used in many other situations, not only the driving situation. It can be used in all situations where the invention can be mounted. The invention is technically best described as follows:

Leg-rest for lower legs and feet formed as a hammock with a bottom, 2 sides and a backside, the bottom mainly of a wooden/plastic shell lined with soft material as a horizontal support for the lower legs and feet; when mounted in elevation adapted to the user's body when lying on his back; same leg-rest is mainly intended for mounting in vehicles, essentially in the backseat area and with attachment-devices, typically on the ceiling handles placed above the rear side windows, in the form of mainly height adjustable hooks, velcro or similar, and which are attached the crossbar which attached with the bottom of the leg-rest through a fabric material which is wrapped around same bottom and through which the above crossbar when mounted functions as a load- bearing part and makes out the back-facing and upper part of the leg-rest - the positions seen from the user's angle, and in such a way that the narrow end surface of the bottom facing the firm surface of the cabin and the above crossbar make out the physical contact to the inner surfaces of the car-cabin and the above fabric attached to the bottom form the sides and the backside, respectively, of the leg-rest and finally the leg-rest should be foldable so that it only takes up the space of the bottom.

If the attachment element of the leg-rest is a hook, said hook in its form and attachment to the leg-rest can have a horizontal curving connecting-part added to function as and formed as a hanger, and the hook will split into 2 or more, 1 to more cm above the traversing part of the hanger.

This addition has several advantages - the user can hang his jacket on this hanger and at the same time the jacket can function as a blind for possible disturbing sun, darken the room, which in itself is a stimulus for relaxation and at the same time a jacket on the hanger will make the cabin less visible from the outside. The hanger-hook further has the advantage that it keeps the leg-rest from rotating vertically around its own axis when the user is lying with the legs in the leg-rest.

Further, a blanket can be a very comfortable accessory. The leg-rest can be made usable by means of a hook or another detachable attachment element for the mounting of a fabric layer such as a blanket or similar mounted to the crossbar of the hanger. The blanket is unrolled when in use and rolled up after use - the blanket may be placed in the dedicated bag and be placed in the folded leg-rest.

Finally, pockets are provided on the leg-rest giving the possibility to place the contents of the user's pockets there or e.g. to keep reading material in the pockets .

List of Figures

Fig. 1 bottom of wooden/plastic shell

Fig. 2 same lined with soft material Fig. 3 leg-rest seen in perspective

Fig. 4 leg-rest with hanger

Fig. 5 leg-rest with blanket

Fig. 6 leg-rest with pockets

Numbering

1. bottom

Ia. same lined with soft material

2. sides 3. backside

4. crossbar

5. narrow end of bottom

6. hooks

7. hanger 8. blanket 9 . pockets

Examples of use

Fig. 1 illustrates the bare bottom which essentially is made of a wooden/plastic shell, while Fig. 2 illustrates the same as Fig. 1, now lined with a soft layer of protecting fabric and where the end sheet has been extra protected as this is where the gravitation of the leg is likely to bother the user the most.

Fig. 3 shows the leg-rest in perspective where Ia is the bottom lined with protecting fabric, 2 the sides, 3 the backside. 4 is the crossbar onto which either hooks 6 can be mounted or any other form of attachment-device, be it velcro or similar. The hooks 6 can be height adjustable as can velcro. The crossbar 6 and the narrow end sheet of the bottom 5 which are facing the firm surface of the cabin form the two physical contact surfaces toward one side of the cabin - the firm surface; typically it will be one of the side windows in the rear of the cabin. The leg-rest is mainly targeted for use in cars, but can also be used in many other places. If the leg- rest is used in a car, the hooks 6 of the leg-rest are simply attached to handles and the person lies down on the back-seat and places his legs in the bottom 1 of the leg-rest. Fig. 4 shows the leg-rest with hanger (7) positioned immediately under the attachment to the cabin so that any jacket may hang along the end surface without interfering with the leg-rest. Fig. 5 illustrates blanket (8) with attachment-device and Fig. 6 shows leg-rest with attached pockets (9) .

Claims

1. Leg-rest for lower legs and feet characterized in that the leg-rest comprises an essentially rectangular bottom (1) , where three of the edges of the bottom each are connected to a side, where the sides are two opposite sides (2) , respectively, and a backside (3) where all three sides (2,3) are coherent and go from the bottom (1) to the same side hereof, and where on the free edge of the backside (3) , on the same level as the backside (3) and essentially parallel to the bottom (1) , a crossbar (4) is attached with attachment-devices (6) in the form of hooks, velcro or similar.

2. The leg-rest according to claim 1 characterized in that the attachment-devices (6) are height adjustable.

3. Leg-rest according to any of the previous claims characterized in that the sides (2) can be triangular .

4. Leg-rest according to any of the previous claims characterized in that the essentially rectangular bottom (1) is mainly made of a wooden/plastic material lined with fabric.

5. Leg-rest for lower legs and feet according to any of the previous claims characterized in that the attachment element of the leg-rest to the cabin of the car in its form and connection to the leg-rest has been added a horizontal curved connecting link positioned immediately under the attachment to the cabin, functioning as and formed as a hanger (7) and the hanging hook splits into 2 or more, 1 to several cm above the traversing part of the hanger.

6. Leg-rest for lower legs and feet according to claim 5 characterized in that the leg-rest can be made ready for use by hook or other mainly detachable attachment-device for the mounting of a fabric layer such as blanket (8) or similar, mounted on the traversing bar of the hanger (7) .

7. Leg-rest for lower legs and feet according to one or several of the above claims characterized in that the pockets (9) have been added to the side surfaces of the leg-rest.