Surgery: splint – brace – or bandage – Orthopedic bandage – Splint or brace
Patent
1996-12-13
1997-12-16
Dvorak, Linda C.
Surgery: splint, brace, or bandage
Orthopedic bandage
Splint or brace
602 16, A61F 500
Patent
active
056978936
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a support structure, more particularly one intended for the ankle joint. In the context of the invention, a support structure of this type can be used on its own, that is to say, it can be fitted independently of any shoe or boot, but may also be incorporated in a shoe or boot, in particular a sports shoe or boot.
The complexity of the movements which take place in the ankle joint makes it particularly susceptible to many types of trauma, so that efforts have long been made to support and hold this joint, in particular for preventive purposes. This is particularly appropriate when an activity, in particular a sporting activity, places great stresses on this joint.
Two categories of methods have to date been developed with a view to promoting support and holding of this joint for preventive purposes. The first consists in producing an ankle-length boot which includes rigid reinforcements. Although they leave the tibiotarsal articulation relatively free, boots of this type nevertheless somewhat restrict the freedom of movement inherent in the sub-astragalar articulation and furthermore affect the user's comfort at the very least.
Other shoes have also been proposed, which are less rigid and therefore more comfortable but in which the restraint produced at the ankle, both at the tibiotarsal articulation and the sub-astragalar articulation, is generally insufficient to support the ankle properly and does not make it possible to prevent trauma or limit trauma when it occurs.
Other, curative solutions are also known for treating sprained ankles and, more generally, ankle weaknesses. Further to the old method consisting in performing a surgical operation with a view to replacing or suturing the defective ligament or ligaments, which is time-consuming and painful, the use of elastic restraining straps, better known as strapping has also been proposed, which consists in tightly wrapping such a strap around the ankle joint. However, further to the fact that the ankle support which it provides is generally accepted to be insufficient, employing a strap of this type proves to be time-consuming and laborious before and after it is used. Finally, use is sometimes made of an ankle support consisting of a flexible and elastic fabric structure fitted like a stocking around the ankle, but this has the drawback that it supports the ankle only poorly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide a support structure for the ankle joint, which can be used preventively and curatively, which makes it possible to overcome these various drawbacks, it being possible for said structure to be used as an orthesis or to be incorporated directly in a shoe or ankle-length or other boot, in particular one for sport.
This structure is characterized in that it includes three parts which are articulated to one another, respectively: surround and bear against the lower end of the user's leg and subdivided in its end region into two branches which end at the said user's two malleoli; foot at the plantar arch; sub-astragalar shell, which is substantially V-shaped and is intended to be articulated respectively, at the malleoli to the upper, at the two ends of the branches of the V, so as to allow displacement of said upper in the sagittal plane of the tibiotarsal articulation and, on the other hand, to the upper end of the pedal shell, at the tip of the V, so as to allow eversion and inversion movements of the pedal shell relative to the assembly consisting of the upper and the connecting shell.
In other words, the invention consists in producing a structure with three elements, articulated relative to one another, whose design allows them to of freedom of the ankle joint, both relative to the sub-astragalar articulation and relative to the tibiotarsal articulation, while supporting said articulations so as to limit or even eliminate any risk of joint trauma in them, which the device and other shoes or boots known to date do not make it possible to achieve.
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