Surgery – Body rests – supports or positioners for therapeutic purpose
Patent
1994-11-04
1996-02-27
Brown, Michael A.
Surgery
Body rests, supports or positioners for therapeutic purpose
5630, 602 13, A61G 1500, A47C 2000, A61F 500
Patent
active
054940494
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a physical therapy bolster.
It is well known to use bolsters during physical therapy procedures.
This discovery to which this invention is directed is that a bolster having significantly improved characteristics for physical therapy procedures is possible.
Hitherto, bolsters have been provided which can be in the form of for instance a folded towel, or in another case a thin walled vinyl inflated cylindrical device.
A bolster useful for the purpose has a number of quite difficult tasks to fulfil.
In one procedure, the bolster is laid along the ground and aligned with the lower spinal area of the patient so supporting the hips above the ground.
In another procedure, the bolster is located crosswise to the direction of the spine so that the thighs can be caused to rock relative to the upper part of the body around the bolster.
In another procedure, the bolster is located so as to be aligned with the spine but between the shoulder blades and supporting the upper part of the chest of the patient relative to a planar supporting base.
These are typical and by no means limiting illustrations of the types of locations that a bolster of the type being discussed is used.
Previous problems have been many with existing bolsters.
For instance, a towel can be rolled into whatever diameter cylinder is considered desirable but the shape thus formed is found to be an extremely hard generally noncompressable shape dependent of course upon the cloth from which the towel is made but consistently this is found to be extremely hard and therefore very uncomfortable for the patient.
More importantly, by having such protrusive hardness, can effect quite strong pressure points against one or more of the spinal segments which is considered to be somewhat disadvantageous.
In another form of bolster comprised of foamed polyurethane in a solid cylindrical form, the problem is that in some applications, the body force is compressed upon a smaller part of the foam so that in this case no matter what density of flexible foam is chosen, considering that the diameter of the material is necessarily limited because of the need for it to fit in relation to certain parts of the body, then the foam is collapsed to form a hard compressed segment which then becomes very uncomfortable which in turn will cause adjacent muscles to tense.
In another case, a vinyl sheet wall bolster is shaped in a cylindrical shape by internal retained air pressure.
The problem with this arrangement is that in order to ensure that the cylindrical shape will not collapse to the ground in the centre if a concentrated pressure of body weight is applied at this point, the diameter of the bolster has to be some two to three times greater than that which is considered more convenient for body location purposes.
This in turn means that the height of the bolster is a significant problem in relation to some exercises or the bolster has to be significantly deflated for these and one then gets a very spread pressure result which again is disadvantageous for a number of the physical therapy procedures where a protrusive effect of acceptable pressure is required.
The search for an appropriate bolster has been a very significant one indeed and even to find the characteristics that are most appropriate for the application has been difficult.
According to this invention then there is proposed a bolster for physical therapy procedures comprising a hollow approximately cylindrically shaped body, the body having a shape lying within the dimensions with a middle approximately cylindrical diameter portion of a minimum of 90 mm and a maximum of 150 mm, and having a length lying within the range of 160 mm to 240 mm, and having a wall defining the body shape which is comprised of a material and having such thickness such that the shape of the bolster is substantially self restoring when the hollow body is open to atmosphere.
A bolster for physical therapy procedures comprising a hollow approximately cylindrically shaped body, the body having a shape lying within the
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Brown Michael A.
Torso (Australia) Pty Ltd.
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