Beds – Support means for discrete portion of user – useable with bed...
Patent
1996-07-10
1998-03-03
Brittain, James R.
Beds
Support means for discrete portion of user, useable with bed...
29745229, 29745231, 29745245, A47C 2002
Patent
active
057221022
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention is concerned with a backrest device providing a supporting surface for the back of a person sitting against, or lying on, the device. Such devices have a variety of uses, such as for posture correction in clinics, for relaxation after workout in fitness clubs, or for personal pain relief at home or in the car.
The supporting surface of a conventional backrest device typically consists of a series of longitudinally spaced transversely extending slats. Because the slats are flat, they provide firm, potentially damaging, and often uncomfortable, contact with the bony part of the spine, and insufficiently firm contact with the muscular tissue on each side of the spine, which would be desirable to relax those muscles.
In accordance with the present invention, a backrest device has a supporting surface presenting two elongate continuous or discontinuous protuberances which extend alongside one another and are arranged to engage the back of a person, resting in use against the supporting surface, on each side of the spine, with a channel between the protuberances to accommodate the bony part of the spine with substantially no pressure on the bony part of the spine. The protuberances will normally be raised with respect to lateral portions of the supporting surface to the sides of the protuberances remote from the channel.
This construction is beneficial and comfortable in that, when a person relaxes against, and conforms to the shape of, the supporting surface, the vertebrae forming the bony part of the spine are effectively suspended within the channel, the body weight being supported on the protuberances and possibly also on the lateral portions of the supporting surface. In this configuration the vertebrae can be stretched or adjusted relatively to one another without local pressure from the supporting surface. However, the protuberances provide localized pressure on the muscular tissue on each side of the vertebrae, which is also beneficial for relieving deep seated muscular tension. The maximum width of the channel, between the extremities of the protuberances, will normally be between 3 and 20 cm, preferably substantially 5 cm, and the depth of the channel at least 2 cm.
When discontinuous, each protuberance may be formed by a row of knobbles, which will maximize the localized pressure. The knobbles in the two rows are preferably in transverse alignment with one another and will usually be spaced at centres along each row corresponding to the average distance between centres of adjacent healthy vertebrae, i.e. between 3.5 and 4.5 cm. It is then possible for a person resting against the supporting surface to adjust his position along the rows until a comfortable position is found at which each vertebra of at least a short series of vertebrae, are similarly positioned relatively to corresponding pairs of knobbles, one on each side of the channel. For clinical use, involving the treatment of, e.g., fused or crushed vertebrae, the knobbles may be at larger centres, of up to 7 cm or more.
The extreme, body-engaging surfaces of the knobbles preferably each presents no more than a surface area of 5 sq.cm., and a dimension, in the direction parallel to the rows, of between 1/2 and 2 times the dimension thereof in the transverse direction.
In the nominal longitudinal direction, i.e. parallel to the lengths of the protuberances (i.e. parallel to the rows of knobbles when provided), the supporting surface may be of concave, flat, or convex shape, depending upon the intended use. All three shapes are appropriate for physio-therapeutic use in the treatment of patients suffering from spinal deformation such as ankylosing spondylitis. Thus a patient in an advanced state of the disease, and with a severely hunched back may need to be treated initially with a device having a concave supporting surface, the curvature of which is less than that of the patient's back. Less disabled patients, or newly diagnosed patients with the condition, may be treated with a device having less concave or a flat or even convex c
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Allred David E.
Brittain James R.
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