WO2018211499A1

WO2018211499A1 - Wrap-around seating restraint

Info

Publication number: WO2018211499A1
Application number: PCT/IL2018/050524
Authority: WO
Inventors: Etery TAMIR
Original assignee: Fund For Medical Research Development Of Infrastructure & Health Services Barzilai Medical Center (Registered Endowment)
Priority date: 2017-05-14
Filing date: 2018-05-14
Publication date: 2018-11-22
Also published as: IL270624B2; IL270624B1; IL270624A

Abstract

A seating restraint for restraining a person in a chair, the seating restraint comprising: a slip cover to fit over a back of a chair; a pelvic support extending from the slip cover; a waist band extending from the pelvic support; and flaps extending from the waist band; wherein the flaps are configured to be fastened at the back of a chair to support a person seated in the chair.

Description

WRAP-AROUND SEATING RESTRAINT

RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application 62/505,940, filed May 14, 2017, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

[0002] Embodiments of the invention relate to seating restraints.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Physical seating restraints, such as wheelchair and geri-chair, lap belts and other alternatives, are intended to provide safe seating of incapacitated individuals. An incapacitated person by way of example, may be a person with mental impairment, psychiatric disorders, a geriatric person, or a physically disabled person, who may require restraint when seated to prevent the individual from slumping over, tilting, sliding, or experiencing other unwanted and possibly injurious displacement in the chair. A reason for restraining incapacitated individuals during caretaker and/or medical procedures may be to accommodate the individuals and/or possibly preventing the individual from interfering with the procedures. Often, an incapacitated individual is restrained to improve the individual's comfort and/or performance of an activity, such as eating, socializing, or traveling.

SUMMARY

[0004] An aspect of an embodiment of the disclosure relates to providing a wrap-around seating restraint, hereinafter also referred to as a "Wrap-Around" or "Wrap- Around restraint", for safely seating an individual in a chair and preventing unwanted movement_T of the individual in the chair. The individual may by way of example, be an incapacitated individual or a person that needs to be restrained, such as a patient receiving medical treatment or temporarily taken out of a hospital sick bed during orderly procedures. "A patient" may hereinafter generically be referred to as any individual restrained to a chair with the Wrap- Around restraint. Another aspect of the disclosure relates to a Wrap-Around restraint for positioning a patient in a seat and providing the patient with postural support while maintaining relatively free motion of the limbs and head. In an embodiment, the Wrap-Around restraint may be a continuous, one piece unit that is relatively easily produced and operated by the patient's caregiver.

[0005] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the Wrap-Around restraint optionally comprises a slip cover, shaped to fit over and secure the Wrap-Around to a back rest of a chair in which a patient is to be supported, a pelvic support that extends from the slip cover, and a waist band extending from the pelvic support and configured to cover and support the patient's waist and torso. In an embodiment, the waistband has elongated flaps extending from sides of the waist band that are configured to wrap around the back of the back rest. The flaps have fasteners, so that a caregiver may overlap the flaps by an amount suitable to accommodate the patient's size and join the flaps to the slip cover or to each other to securely hold the patient comfortably in the chair. Optionally, the slip cover comprises at least one loop formed on a side of the slip cover, through which the flap may be threaded to guide and aid in maintaining the flap in position.

[0006] In an embodiment of the disclosure Wrap-Around may be deployed by fitting the slip cover over a back rest of a chair and laying out the pelvic and waist supports on a seat of the chair. The patient may be seated on the pelvic support on the chair seat, and the pelvic and waist supports pulled up from between the patient's legs so that waistband covers a portion of the patient's upper torso and the flaps may be pulled towards the back of the chair. At the back of the chair the flaps may be overlapped and joined behind the back rest to secure the patient in place with the patient's upper torso supported by the waistband and held to the back of the chair leaving the patient free to move his or her arms and legs freely.

[0007] This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0008] Non-limiting examples of embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to figures attached hereto that are listed following this paragraph. Identical features that appear in more than one figure are generally labeled with a same label in all the figures in which they appear. A label labeling an icon representing a given feature of an embodiment of the invention in a figure may be used to reference the given feature. Dimensions of features shown in the figures are chosen for convenience and clarity of presentation and are not necessarily shown to scale.

[0009] Fig. 1 schematically shows a perspective view of a Wrap- Around, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure;

[00010] Fig. 2 schematically shows a perspective view of the Wrap-Around shown in Fig. 1 fitted over a chair and laid out on a seat rest of the chair, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure; and

[00011] Figs. 3-8 schematically show various perspective views of stages of restraining a patient in the Wrap-Around restraint shown in Figs. 1-2, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[00012] In the following detailed description an overview of a Wrap-Around restraint for safely seating a patient in a chair is discussed with reference to Fig. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. The components of the Wrap-Around restraint and fitting the Wrap-Around to a chair prior to restraining a patient to the chair, are described with reference to Fig. 2, Operation of the Wrap-Around and stages of seating a patient and restraining the patient to the chair with Wrap- Around are shown in various perspective views and discussed with reference to Figs. 3-8.

[00013] In the discussion, unless otherwise stated, adjectives such as "substantially" and "about" modifying a condition or relationship characteristic of a feature or features of an embodiment of the disclosure, are understood to mean that the condition or characteristic is defined to within tolerances that are acceptable for operation of the embodiment for an application for which it is intended. Unless otherwise indicated, the word "or" in the description and claims is considered to be the inclusive "or" rather than the exclusive or, and indicates at least one of, or any combination of items it conjoins.

[00014] Fig. 1 schematically shows a perspective view of a Wrap-Around restraint 100, formed from a suitable flexible material and comprising a slipcover 110 provided to fit over a back rest of a chair, a pelvic support 120, optionally integrally formed with the slipcover, and a waistband 130, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. Fig. 2 schematically shows Wrap-Around 100 fitted to a chair 200 and slipcover 110 mounted to a backrest 210 of the chair to secure the Wrap-Around to the chair. Components of the Wrap-Around are unfolded and spread out on a seat 220 of the chair. Slip cover 110 is designed to match and optionally enclose back rest 210 of chair 200 and may have a sealed end 111 (Fig. 1), and an opening 112 that opens into an interior 113 (Fig. 1) to receive the back rest. Slip cover 110 may have a substantially rectangular shape. Pelvic support 120 extends from slipcover 110, and optionally narrows along its length, as indicated by arrows "A" (Fig. 1), to comfortably fit between a patient's legs and support the pelvic region of a patient. Waistband 130 extends from the pelvic support and may widen relative to the pelvic support, to cover and support the waist and torso of a patient. In an embodiment of the disclosure, Wrap- Around 100 may comprise elongated flaps 141 and 142 that extend from sides of the waistband and are configured to wrap around the back rest of the chair, as described below. In an embodiment of the disclosure, the elongated flaps may narrow at their ends, and are designed to be pulled towards the back of a patient seated on the chair and pelvic support 120 and be fastened behind the back rest so that a patient is unable to independently release him/herself from the Wrap- Around. In an embodiment, flaps 141 and 142 may have at least one quick release fastener to enable fastening the flaps. The at least one fastener may, by way of example, comprise buttons, snaps, zippers, hooks and eyelets, and/or hook and loop fasteners, such as Velcro®. Figs. 1 and 2 show flaps 141 and 142 having, optionally, hook and loop fasteners indicated schematically by a plurality of hatched patterned strips 150 at ends of flaps 141 and 142. Waistband 130 may be formed integrally with pelvic support 120 or may be formed as a separate component of Wraparound 100 and attached to the pelvic support, optionally along a region indicated by a dashed line 151 (Fig 1) by a method, such as by way of example sewing, bonding, and/or ultrasound welding, suitable to the material from which Wrap-around 100 is formed. Optionally, Wrap- Around 100 is formed from a single integral cutout similarly to a manner in which an article of clothing may be made from a fabric cutout.

15] Figs. 3-8, schematically show a patient 10 being secured into Wrap- Around 100 to support the patient upright while seated in chair 200, so the patient is free to engage comfortably in various activities when seated, such as eating and socializing. By way of example, once the Wrap-Around restraint is initially fitted on the chair, and components of the Wrap-Around are unfolded and spread out on seat 220 of chair 200 (Fig. 2), patient 10 may comfortably be seated on pelvic support 120 of the Wrap-Around as schematically shown in Fig 3. In Fig. 4, pelvic support 120, and waistband 130 are pulled upwards from between the patient's legs so that a portion of pelvic support 120 covers the pelvic region and lower abdomen of the patient, and waistband 130 covers a portion of the patient's upper torso. In an embodiment, waistband 130 may be sufficiently long to cover the patient's torso substantially up to the armpits. A double-head arrow B indicates a length of the waistband. Figs. 5-6, schematically show perspective side views of patient 10 in the Wrap- Around, in which the flaps 141 and 142, of which only flap 142 is shown in the figures, are pulled towards the back of backrest 210 and subsequently, as schematically show in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 fastened behind backrest.

[00016] In accordance with embodiment of the disclosure, at least one loop 160 may be formed on sides 118 of slip cover 110 to guide and maintain the flaps in position when threaded through the loop (Fig. 5) and subsequently when the flaps are fastened behind back rest 210 (Fig. 6) to aid in preventing the flaps from moving when the patient is seated and restrained in the Wrap- Around. Additionally, the loops may prevent the patient from standing up or otherwise releasing himself or herself from the restraint. Fig. 7 shows a rear perspective view of chair 200 and patient 10, in which flaps 141 and 142 are schematically shown being fastened at the back of back rest 210. The flaps are optionally folded one over the other and pressed together to fasten hook and loop fasteners to each other and restrain patient 10 to the chair. Optionally the flaps may be joined by snaps, buttons and/or hooks and or by tying the flaps in a knot.

[00017] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the flaps may be adjusted to accommodate a size of patient 10 by adjusting where at the back of backrest 210 the flaps are fastened. In accordance with and embodiment of the disclosure Wrap- Around restraint 100 may comprise a size indicator for example, "L", "M", and "S", optionally accompanied by vertical lines as position indicators on a back layer 119 of the slip cover to indicate positions for fastening flaps 141 and 142 in accordance with the patient' s size.

[00018] For example, if patient 10 is relatively small compared to an average size individual it may be required to pull the flaps to fasten them at position "S" as schematically shown in Fig. 7, to advantageously secure the patent to chair 200. Optionally, a relatively larger individual, may require fastening them at a position, such as "L". Optionally, size indicator may comprise reference markings (not shown) to positions for joining flaps 141 and 142 at various heights in the back of the back rest, to accommodate to the patient's height. By way of example, a relatively tall patient may require a relatively high position for joining the flaps to advantageously secure the patient to chair 200. Similarly, a shorter patient may require a lower position for joining the flaps compared to the higher position of the taller patient. Additional loops such as loop 160 may be formed on sides 118 of slip cover 110 at various levels along the sides to maintain the joined flaps at an advantageous height, in accordance with the height indicators.

[00019] By way of a numerical example, a Wrap-Around in accordance with an embodiment may have the following dimensions (Fig. 1): the slip cover may have a width B equal to about 58 centimeters (cm), a length "C" equal to about 57 cm, and a depth "J" equal to about 6 cm, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In an embodiment, pelvic support 120 may have a width "D" at the narrow portion indicated by arrows "A" equal to about 28 cm and a width "F" at a wider section of the waistband, optionally at a location between the pelvic support and the waistband indicated by dashed line 151, equal to about 68 cm. Optionally a total length "E" of the pelvic support and the slip cover equals to about 155 cm. Additionally, the waist band may have a width "H" equal to about 30 cm, and a length "G" spanning from ends of flaps 141 and 142, equal to about 220 cm. in an embodiment, the ends of the flaps may narrow compared with width "H" of the waist band to a width "I" equal to about 21 cm.

[00020] Fig. 8 schematically shows a perspective view of patient 10 restrained to chair 200 by Wrap-Around restraint 100. In an embodiment, the patient's limbs and head are relatively free to move while the patient is securely restrained to the back seat with the Wrap-Around.

[00021] In an embodiment of the disclosure, Wrap Around restraint 100 may be formed of flexible non-absorbent and/or washable materials such as liquid repellent fabrics, anti-microbial materials for reducing bacterial growth and occurrence of infections, and/or other materials known in the art that prevent staining. Additionally, Wrap-Around restraint 100 may be formed of soft and flexible materials to provide comfort to a patient restrained with the Wrap Around.

[00022] In an embodiment of the disclosure, Wrap-Around restraint 100 may comprise a pocket 90 formed, optionally on an external side 131 of the waist band, for holding personal belongings such as keys, eyeglasses, and a portable phone. Additionally, safety instructions and/or instructions for use may be printed directly on Wrap-Around 100 or printed on a label attached to Wrap-Around, optionally on the back layer of the Wrap Around.

[00023] Whereas the description above refers to a slip cover having a rectangular shape designed to fit over a back rest of a chair, embodiment of the disclosure are not limited to a particular shape and the slip cover may have different shapes and sizes, such an oval shape and/or configured to be fitted over back rests of various seats, such as a wheel chair. Similarly, embodiments of the disclosure are not limited to dimensions of Wrap-Around 100 described above, and Wrap-Arounds having dimensions different from those noted above of all or part of the components comprised in the Wrap-Around are possible. By way of example, a slip cover may be designed to have smaller or greater dimension of width, length and depth "B", "C", and "J" respectively, to fit over armchairs.

[00024] In the description and claims of the present application, each of the verbs, "comprise" "include" and "have", and conjugates thereof, are used to indicate that the object or objects of the verb are not necessarily a complete listing of components, or parts of the subject or subjects of the verb.

[00025] Descriptions of embodiments of the invention in the present application are provided by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The described embodiments comprise different features, not all of which are required in all embodiments of the invention. Some embodiments utilize only some of the features or possible combinations of the features. Variations of embodiments of the invention that are described, and embodiments of the invention comprising different combinations of features noted in the described embodiments, will occur to persons of the art. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims.

Claims

1. A seating restraint for restraining a person in a chair, the seating restraint comprising: a slip cover to fit over a back of a chair;

a pelvic support extending from the slip cover;

a waist band extending from the pelvic support; and

flaps extending from the waist band;

wherein the flaps are configured to be fastened at the back of a chair to support a person seated in the chair.

2. The seating restraint according to claim 1 and comprising at least one fastener configured to secure the flaps at the back of the chair.

3. A seating restraint according to claim 2, wherein the at least one fastener comprises a hook and loop fastener.

4. A seating restraint according to any of the preceding claims, and comprising at least one loop for maintaining a position of a flap threaded through the loop along a side edge of the slip cover.

5. A seating restraint according to any of the preceding claims, and comprising position indicators to indicate where to fasten the flaps at the back of the chair.

6. A seating restraint according to claim 5 wherein the position indicators are associated with a size of a person to be restrained by the seating restraint.

7. A seating restraint according to any of the preceding claims, produced from an integral cutout of a material.

8. A seating restraint according to any of claims 1-6 formed from pieces of material that are attached to each other.