Surgery: kinesitherapy – Kinesitherapy – Exercising appliance
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-16
2001-05-29
DeMille, Danton D. (Department: 3733)
Surgery: kinesitherapy
Kinesitherapy
Exercising appliance
C601S040000, C601S148000, C602S013000, C602S030000, C128SDIG008
Reexamination Certificate
active
06238357
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a health appliance for use in stretching fingers or toes so as to stretch their muscles at the webs. This stretching improves circulation of the blood, so as to increase one's health.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One's toes are kept in a fixed state in a shoe used as a footwear. Therefore, the muscles of the toes at the webs are constricted so as to cause hindrance of the circulation of the blood at the tip of one's foot. Wearing shoes for a long time worsens the circulation of the blood, so that one's leg swells or feels heavy, leading to fatigue.
It is generally known that a stretch of the toes improves the circulation of the blood at the webs and is effective for recovery from fatigue and for promotion of health. When one's leg feels heavy, for example, he usually massages his toes by rubbing, kneading or stretching the toes with his hands, to improve the circulation of the blood at the webs. However, massaging one's toes with his own hands to improve the circulation of the blood at the webs requires a tiresome labor and makes his hands dull.
For improving the circulation of the blood at the webs without tiresome labor, health appliances for use in stretching toes are proposed. A typical type of health appliance has cylindrical spongy members to be fitted in between toes to stretch them and keep them in the stretched state.
However, this type of health appliance has the disadvantage that since the cylindrical members are required to have a thickness large enough to let the toes stretch widely, they are hard to be fitted into limited spaces to expand, such as spaces between the toes.
It also has the disadvantage that the spaces between the toes stretched by use of this type of health appliance are limited by the thickness of the cylindrical members of the health appliance, so that the spaces cannot be varied or adjusted arbitrarily. In addition, it is desired that not only a space(s) between the toes but also a space(s) between fingers can be widened to any desired amount to stretch the muscles of the fingers at the webs, so as to improve the circulation of blood.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the light of the disadvantages involved in the prior art mentioned above, the present invention has been made, with the aim of providing a health appliance which enables the muscles of the toes or fingers at the webs to be reliably stretched to improve the circulation of the blood without doing any tiresome labor; enables a fitting member(s) of the health appliance to be easily held in a sandwich relation between the toes or fingers; and, further, enables the space(s) between the toes or fingers to be increased or decreased arbitrarily.
To accomplish the object above, the present invention provides a novel health appliance comprising a fitting member fittable between toes or fingers. The fitting member has in an interior thereof a pressurized medium charging portion (charging chamber) which is expanded in a direction for a space between the toes or fingers to be widened when the pressurized medium is charged therein. The appliance also comprises a pressurized medium charging port, provided at a location of the health appliance communicating with the fitting member, for charging the pressurized medium into the pressurized medium charging portion.
In this arrangement, there may be provided only one or two or more fitting members to be fitted in between any two neighboring toes or fingers, and no particular limitation is imposed on the number of fitting members.
The provision of a single fitting member provides the advantages that the health appliance can be made compact and also the fitting member can be selectively fitted in between only the toes or fingers at the web at which the circulation of the blood is desired to be improved.
The provision of two or more fitting members provides the advantage that three or more toes or fingers at the webs can be stretched at one stroke with efficiency, and the circulation of the blood can be improved by the synergistic effect.
The fitting members provided may include any number of fitting members. For example, four fitting members for all five toes or fingers of one foot or hand; five or more fitting members for toes or fingers of both feet or hands; and two or three fitting members for toes and fingers at any selected location of one foot or hand.
Also, the health appliance may be in the form of the fitting member only (i.e., the fitting member having the pressurized medium charging port only), or the fitting member(s) combined with other member(s). In fact, no particular limitation is imposed on the form of the health appliance.
In addition, the fitting member may take any configuration including a cylinder, a sphere, or a polygonal prism into which the fitting member will be shaped when expanded, or a configuration formed by lamination of a thin film and a thin plate or the like. No particular limitation is imposed on the configuration of the fitting member.
Further, no particular limitation is imposed on the materials of the pressurized medium charging portion, as long as the materials have hermeticity or airtightness and flexibility. The materials which may be used for forming a hollow case-like member include hermetic non-woven fabrics made of plastics, such as polyester, nylon, and polyurethane, hermetic textiles formed of synthetic resins, or sheet-like materials made of rubbers or plastics.
It is to be noted here that the fitting member may be formed by a combination of two or more different materials, as in the form in which the pressurized medium charging portion is formed around a rigid core or the form in which a protecting cover is formed around the pressurized medium charging portion. The fitting member may also be formed by only one type of material, as in the form in which the pressurized medium charging portion is formed by the interior of the case formed of only a hermetic non-woven fabric of polyurethane, for example, so that the case itself can be formed as the fitting member.
Further, the pressurized mediums which may be used include a gas such as air, a liquid such as water or oil, or a semi-solid having flowability like sol. As long as the pressurized medium has such a kinetic property as to be freely fed into the pressurized medium charging portion in the fitting member, no particular limitation is imposed on the pressurized mediums.
The pressurized medium charging port may be located directly in the fitting member or in another portion of the health appliance, and no particular limitation is imposed on the location of the pressurized medium charging port. Additionally, there may be provided a valve, such as a safety valve or a relief valve, for regulating the pressure of the pressurized medium to a predetermined value.
The health appliance may include a base member. The base member comprises a back contacting member which is arranged to contact a sole of a foot or a palm of a hand and/or a front contacting member which is arranged to contact an instep of the foot or a back of the hand. The fitting member is fixed to the back contacting member and/or the front contacting member.
In this arrangement, no particular limitation is imposed on the configuration of the back contacting member or the front contacting member, as long as it has such configuration as to be contactable with the sole of the foot or the palm of the hand or the instep of the foot or the back of the hand.
The materials which may be used for forming the back contacting member or the front contacting member include a plate-like member formed of wood, metal or synthetic resin, and a mat or a case formed of natural fiber or synthetic fiber. The plate-like member is preferably made to have elasticity, like a rubber plate. Further, the back contact member contactable with the sole of the foot may be provided with undulation which is matched with the shape of the sole of the foot, or may be provided with projections which can arouse massaging poi
Kawaguchi Hirozumi
Satsu Takehiko
DeMille Danton D.
Kawaei Co., Ltd.
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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