Surgery: splint – brace – or bandage – Bandage structure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-14
2001-02-27
Brown, Michael A. (Department: 3764)
Surgery: splint, brace, or bandage
Bandage structure
C128S882000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06194629
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a novel bandage or wrap and to a novel textile material useful as a bandage or wrap.
When a limb suffers internal damage to tissue other than bone, it is common to wrap the limb in a bandage material to provide support or compression, in order to aid healing and/or to help prevent further damage. Such damage often arises in sports injuries. Some sportsmen or women bandage a limb joint for prophylactic purposes, ie. to prevent injury.
One known type of bandage is an adhesiveless elastic tube. Such a tubular bandage provides limited support and the compressive force cannot be varied. Tubular bandages are therefore of limited benefit and are not normally used, for example, by sportsmen and women.
A more effective bandage is an elasticated adhesive bandage. Such a bandage comprises an elongate strip of longitudinally semi-stretchable fabric, one major surface of which is adhesively coated. The fabric contains no elastomer or rubber. The bandage can be wrapped around a limb section as desired, in particular the compression applied and the arrangement of the bandage can be selected by the person applying the bandage, who is often a physiotherapist. An adhesive elasticated bandage therefore overcomes some of the disadvantages of a tubular bandage. Nevertheless, adhesive elasticated bandages suffer disadvantages:
(i) they are painful to remove, because they adhere to hair,
(ii) they are often uncomfortable to wear and possibly restrict blood flow,
(iii) they can be difficult to apply,
(iv) they are not reusable,
(v) they are not necessarily adjustable after use, because they are normally unusable after removal from the skin.
French Patent No. 2 609 889 discloses a bandage having undulating lines of an anti-slip material adhered to one surface thereof.
However, the stated object of the invention of French Patent No. 2 609 889 is to provide a coated bandage the coating of which does not adversely affect the elasticity of the bandage fabric, and that permits adequate ventilation of eg. skin enclosed by the bandage.
French Patent No. 2 609 889 fails to address the problem of providing a bandage having anti-slip characteristics relative to eg. human skin, that does not rely on adherence of the bandage material to the skin.
WO95/12370 discloses a bandage having regions of anti-slip material applied to at least one surface, and preferably both surfaces, of a bandage fabric.
However, the stated aim of the invention of WO95/12370 is to provide a non-slip layer that prevents slipping of overlapping bandage layers. In the preferred embodiment, the non-slip materials are applied in patterns that facilitate this effect. Again, there is no detailed disclosure of a means by which the bandage can be rendered anti-slip relative to human skin when the bandage is applied in a compressive manner.
In one aspect, the invention provides a bandage which enables the disadvantages of prior art bandages which have been appreciated by the inventor to be overcome or reduced. The bandage is as defined in Claim
1
.
A bandage of the invention may be applied to a limb by placing a first end of the bandage on the limb with its slip-resistant surface facing the skin. The bandage is then wound around the limb under tension, the first end of the bandage being held in place by an at least partially overlying bandage layer. The second end of the bandage may conveniently be secured to an underlying bandage layer, suitably by means of an adhesive strip or, more preferably, by means of a tab secured to the bandage and attachable to the underlying surface by means of barbs removably engageable with material of the underlying layer. Suitable removably engageable barb/material combinations are available under the registered trade mark Velcro. Other barb/material fasteners may alternatively be used.
The elasticity (resiliency) of the bandage wrapped around the limb under tension (ie. extended from its relaxed state) causes the bandage to exert a compressive force on the limb. The applied bandage is subject to contractile forces but it does not slip against the skin, at least not to a significant extent, but because it is not stuck to the skin by adhesive, can be painlessly removed for repositioning or re-use. Unlike a tubular bandage, however, the compressive force applied by the bandage can be chosen by applying chosen tension to the bandage as it is being wrapped around the limb; similarly the arrangement of the bandage on the limb can be chosen as desired.
The bandage may in principle comprise any resiliently stretchable material. A fabric is preferred for comfort, such as a knitted fabric. The bandage is normally stretchable only in the longitudinal direction, since significant transverse stretchability detracts from the stability and support which the bandage can provide. The bandage normally is capable of a measured maximum extension of at least 50% of its relaxed length (ie. is capable of extending by at least 50% of its relaxed length) and often of at least 80%, and more desirably of 100% or more, eg. about 120%. The term “maximum extension” is discussed later in this specification.
The elastic modulus of a bandage may be expressed as the weight with which the bandage is required to be loaded to extend by 40% of the additional length of the bandage when extended from its rest state to substantially its maximum extended length. This is a standard test in the UK. Typically, a bandage of the invention has an elastic modulus of from 400 to 1300 g and more usually of from 700 to 1100 g. Preferably the modulus is between 800 and 1000 g and most preferably about 900 g.
As already stated, the bandage preferably comprises a fabric, for example a knitted fabric. Elasticity (resiliency) is suitably provided by incorporating in the knitted fabric longitudinal resilient strands, normally made of an elastomer.
A conventional fabric alone would not resist contraction of an extended (stressed) bandage wrapped around a limb. Such resistance may be provided by applying a slip-resistant material to one of the major surfaces of the bandage. The application of slip-resistant material to both sides of the bandage fabric, as proposed in WO95/12370, would reduce the usefulness of the device as a bandage,
Normally the applied slip-resistant material is elastic; in any event, the anti-slip surface of the fabric is capable of broadly elastic behaviour. As suitable slip-resistant materials there may be mentioned materials having rubber-like properties, especially silicones.
Complete covering of the surface to be made slip-resistant with the slip resistant material has been found to be undesirable. Therefore, the coverage with the slip resistant material contains discontinuities. The invention includes bandages having the slip resistant material arranged in spots or patches but the slip resistant material is preferably formed as one or more generally longitudinally extending lines. There are preferably a plurality of such longitudinal lines of slip resistant material, suitably separated by a distance of between 5 and 15 mm and more preferably of between 8 and 12 mm, eg. about 10 or 11 mm. Most preferably the longitudinal lines of slip-resistant material are not straight but undulating, so that any notional straight line extending along the length of the bandage would intersect at least one line of the slip resistant material. This construction advantageously accommodates flexing of the slip-resistant material during elongation of the bandage, and also confers a desirable “power” characteristic in the sense that the forces resulting from extension of the bandage are evenly distributed, and increase at a desirable rate, across the range of extension.
In a preferred aspect, the invention provides a bandage as defined herein which comprises elongate fabric, resiliently stretchable in the longitudinal direction but substantially unstretchable in the transverse direction and having a rubber or rubber-like material applied to a major surface of the fabric. The rubber or rubber-like material is preferably a silicone. The fa
Brown Michael A.
Hamilton Lalita
LandOfFree
Non-slip bandage does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Non-slip bandage, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Non-slip bandage will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2615505