Beds – Invalid bed or surgical support – With body member support or restrainer
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-12
2001-10-23
Browne, Lynne H. (Department: 3628)
Beds
Invalid bed or surgical support
With body member support or restrainer
C005S632000, C005S722000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06305039
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a novel resting system and parts thereof, for use, particularly but not exclusively, in restricting movement of an individual resting thereon.
There are situations when it is desirable to restrain or restrict the movement of an individual or animal during sleep and/or at rest and/or during convalescence. For example, individuals who have undergone extensive surgical procedures (this may also include animals that have undergone veterinary procedures), disabled individuals or individuals suffering from neurodegenerative/muscle/bone wasting diseases or the like, often necessitate placement in a restricted or semi-restricted position whilst at rest to aid either recovery or therapy or development and generally to increase their quality of life.
Other situations where restriction of movement is desirable are in cases where individuals have developmental and/or neurological abnormalities such as, without limitation, brittle bone syndrome. In these cases it is important to be able to encourage, as far as possible, good postural development and it has been shown that this is aided by suitable positioning at all times.
There are other instances when it is desirable to restrict the movement of an individual. For example during surgical procedures it may be necessary to position and fix a patient in a specific orientation so as to either remove pressure/stress on sutured wounds thereby assisting the healing process. Currently there are no means of positioning and fixing a patient other than by adjusting pillows and placing wedges appropriately under/on a mattress so as to place a patient in a particular position. However, this method of restraining necessitates nursing staff/carers to periodically move a patient in order to prevent the occurrence of pressure sores. It would obviously be desirable to maintain a patient in a configuration that assists the healing process and abrogates the potential for developing pressure sores.
Moreover, the occurrence of neck and/or spinal injuries or extensive burns also requires the positioning of the patient in order to either prevent further injury to damaged nerves or to assist in the healing of damaged skin. This may also be applied to veterinary cases. Animals (horses, pigs, elephants, cows etc) present particular problems after surgery, one cannot encourage an animal to avoid lying on a wound so as to prevent the wound re-opening and thus wounds tend not to heal rapidly.
Apart from the need to restrict the movement of individuals who have undergone surgical procedures, nervous system defects, for example and without limitation, such as epilepsy sometimes require restrictions on movement to the extent that suffers have to be forcibly restrained to prevent self inflicted damage. Epileptic fits can occur at any period of a day or night and since it would not be practicable to continuously monitor an epileptic for 24 hours/day, a means of preventing self inflicted damage would be desirable.
A yet further example of the necessity to maintain an individual in a particular position is in the instance of newborn infants of families that have a history of sudden infant death syndrome, i.e. “cot death”. The British Medical Association have recommended that babies should be placed on their backs when put into their cots to sleep. Research and results have shown that there is a significant decrease in the incidence of cot death following the guidelines to sleeping positions. Sudden infant death syndrome can occur at any age from birth to 12 months (although more common in babies 1-4 months). It is of note that infants learn to roll in the perinatal period 2-5 months and therefore it would obviously be preferable to keep a baby, especially one considered to be at risk from cot death, on his or her back during sleep and therefore restrained. Typically this is achieved by appropriately placing wedges/pillows beneath a mattress so as to incline the surface of rest in a suitable manner however wedges/pillows in themselves can be hazardous to small infants, dislodgement of same can result in inadvertent suffocation of the infant. Hence any system that could provide restricted movement during sleep for babies without the risk of parts being dislodged would automatically be of benefit and advantage.
Current practices for restraining or restricting movement of an individual or animal are relatively primitive in so far as they involve, in one extreme, strapping individuals to a bed or the like by means of appropriate strapping. Alternatively movement can be restricted by use of “Velcro™” sheet(s), wherein the sheet(s) can be removably attached to a suitable resting surface or simply used to encapsulate an individual whereby the encapsulated individual is placed on an appropriate resting surface. However, this form of restraining equipment tends to be unsatisfactory because the Velcro™ sheet does not secure firmly and the positioning of the individual is, to some extent, determined by the positioning of the Velcro™ attachment means. Moreover adjustment of position of an individual can be disturbing both to the individual in question and those in the immediate environs, this is especially true during the night when repositioning may have to take place and the sound of detaching Velcro™ can deleteriously interrupt rest. Additionally, none of the prior art devices are particularly comfortable for the individual nor they offer easy access to an individual so that carers can administer periodic appropriate therapeutics. Furthermore, in the instance of an emergency such as removal of the individual, from the resting surface prior art devices are cumbersome, slow to detach and noisy.
The invention of this application has elegantly overcome the problems associated with the prior art by providing a means of preventing extensive movement of an individual primarily whilst that individual is asleep or resting by provision of a resting system. Said resting system comprises three separate parts, a support means, a resting means and a restraining means the assembly and interconnection of which parts provides the system. The restraining means is easily adjustable to any suitable position whereby an individual is prevented from extensive movement, whilst being simultaneously comfortably restrained.
Reference herein to individual is intended to include adult/infant
eonate human or animal.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a means of restricting the movement of an individual during rest or when confined to a bed or chair.
It is a yet farther object of the invention to provide a resting system which is easy to adjust by an attendant
urse/carer.
It is a yet a further object of the invention to provide a comfortable and safe resting system.
It is a yet further object of the invention to provide improved access to an individual by an attendant
urse/carer.
It is yet a further object of this invention to provide a resting system that manages and promotes postural development and prevents limb deformity and deterioration.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a resting system comprising a support means for supporting a resting means on which a body can rest in relative comfort, wherein said resting means includes a number of components and the junction between at least two of said components provides a channel along which a securing/restraining means is able to move; and at least one securing/restraining means including a portion which is adapted to move along said channel and a portion which is adapted to be placed against a body to be secured/restrained so as to prevent excessive movement of said body.
In a preferred aspect of the invention said resting means is fixedly, and ideally releasably, attached to said support means. Preferably, this releasable fixing is undertaken by any conventional means, for example, without limitation, Velcro™ may be fixedly attached to said support means and correspondingly fixedly attached to an underside of said resting means so as to bring the two members releasably theretogether.
In
Jenkins Clive Charles
Svensson Mark
Browne Lynne H.
Jacobson & Holman PLLC
Jenx Limited
Santos Robert G.
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