JPH10305052A - Knee supporter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a knee supporter which is provided with the function of not only fix-operating a knee joint but positively returning the twisted knee joint into a normal state as the knee supporter for softening a pain at the knee at the time of bending and stretching the knee, etc. SOLUTION: Fixing belts 2, 2', 3 and 3' which can fasten respective femur part and a tibia part in optional directions are provided for a cylindrical knee supporter main body 1 consisting of a material which is rich in flexibility and extensibility and the belts 2, 2', 3 and 3' are restrained in a direction strengthening movement in a direction for easily turning the knee.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a supporter for relieving pain in knee flexion and extension of a person having pain in the knee such as a knee joint.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a knee supporter for the purpose of pain relief at the time of bending and stretching of a knee is generally constructed by reinforcing a knee portion with a tubular band made of a flexible or rigid cloth and adding a fixing action. It reduces the load on the knee joint.

[0003] For example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 7-5613 discloses a fixed band having a pad for compressing a distal portion of a wide inner muscle, which is fixed to a fixed position of a tubular main body of a supporter, so that the knee can be tightened. . In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-194649, a plurality of laterally mounted blades are wound from above a cylindrical knee supporter, and the upper muscle and the lower muscle of the knee are tightened and fixed.

[0004] In each of these, a supporter, which is a tubular band for reinforcing the knee, is provided with a member for partially strengthening the fixing action, thereby reducing the load on the knee joint and reducing knee pain. It has eased.

[0005]

The pain of the knee joint is mainly caused by
Since it is caused by mechanical strain such as displacement of the tibia, femur, or muscle, it is important to return this torsion to a normal state.

In general, the ligament, which is a reinforcement mechanism of the knee, can only passively respond to external stress, and in order to compensate for this, the cerebral cortex controls the muscle contraction of the periarticular muscle group coordinated by a neuromotor pattern. Go and oppose. Therefore, to return the twist to normal, not only reinforce the knee,
There is a need to control the quadriceps, which is most important for knee movement. Here, the quadriceps femoris is a general term for four powerful muscles that occupy the front surface of the thigh and are involved in the extension movement.

[0007] The above-mentioned conventional supporter mainly reinforces by fixing, and cannot control the quadriceps femoris.

[0008] Therefore, the present invention provides an assisting device that controls the quadriceps muscle while reinforcing the knee and corrects twisting and misalignment, which are the source of mechanical distortion, thereby improving the mechanical strength of the knee joint. The purpose is to return the distortion to a normal state.

[0009]

According to the present invention, quadriceps femoris is controlled based on the following principle.

[0010] Muscles are less likely to twist in painful directions when the knee is turned left and right, and tend to move in the opposite direction. Although the medical theory is unknown, it has been discovered that assisting the user in making it easier to twist in the direction that makes it easier to twist also makes it easier to move in painful directions.

In view of the above, according to the present invention, a fixing band is removably fastened to a knee supporter to assist the muscle to perform the above-mentioned movement while reinforcing the entire knee joint with an elastic tubular supporter. I do. This fastening is to pull the fixation band to the supporter in the direction in which the torsion load on the knee joint is light, that is, in the direction in which pain is not felt or the pain is small, and the fixation band is used to fix the pain. By applying a restraining force to the movement of the knee, the mechanical strain of the knee joint is returned to a normal state.

(1) Specifically, the knee support of the present invention has a tubular knee support made of an elastic material, and a base at the upper and / or lower position of the knee joint on the outer peripheral surface of the knee support. A fixed band made of a fixed elastic material, first fastener means provided at a tip of the fixed band,
The outer peripheral surface of the knee supporter is provided at a predetermined position circumferentially separated from a base end of the fixed belt,
Second fastener means for detachably fastening the fastener means of the above, and the fixing belt is pulled in the direction in which the torsion load applied to the knee joint is light, so that the first fastener means is fixed to the second fastener means.
Of the fastener means.

Here, the fastener means includes a so-called magic fastener. This magic fastener has one surface (first or second fastener means) on which a large number of locking projections are formed, and the other surface on which locking members such as a large number of loops are engaged with the locking projections. (2nd or 1st fastener means) is aligned at an arbitrary position, and both surfaces are stopped by this engagement action.

(2) The fixed band of the knee supporter of (1) is
By providing a pair at both ends of the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical knee supporter and simultaneously tightening the upper knee muscle and the lower knee muscle from two directions sandwiching the knee, quadriceps can be reliably controlled.

The fixing direction of the fixing band is, for example, when it is easy to turn the body rightward while standing upright with one foot as an axis foot, the fixing band above the kneecap (knee joint) is pulled rightward (clockwise) and tightened. Tighten the fixed band below the kneecap to the left. That is,
Be sure to tighten the belt in the opposite direction on the thigh side and the shank side with the kneecap as the center. The same applies to the case where the direction is different between the right foot and the left foot.

Thus, the knee is strongly tightened in a direction in which the pain is large and it is difficult to move, and the tightening force in a direction in which the pain is small and it is easy to move is weakened.

(3) The first fastener means at the distal end portion of the fixed band of the knee supporter may include a band-shaped locking piece having the first fastener means formed on one side, and a distal end of the fixed band on the opposite side. A structure in which the edges are connected so as to form a T-shape can be provided. This is achieved by rotating the band-shaped locking piece in any direction to the right or left around the connecting position to make the fixed band and the band-shaped locking piece linear, and to connect the first fastener means to the second fastener means. It has the advantage that the fastener surface does not come out during fastening.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The knee supporter shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) is provided at both ends of the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical supporter body 1 made of a flexible and stretchable material (upper and lower positions of a knee joint). )
And a pair of fixing bands 2, 2 ', 3, 3'. The fixing band is made of a stretchable material and has a base end 4 for sewing to the supporter body 1 at the base end thereof, and is a T-shaped as a whole. The first fastener means a to
d, a 'to d' are formed. This is the above-mentioned so-called magic fastener, which is sewn and fixed to the distal end surface of the fixing band.

As shown in FIG. 1 (b), each pair of the fixed bands is sewn at an axially symmetric position at both ends of the outer peripheral surface of the supporter body 1 by using the base end portion 4. this is,
When viewed from the through hole 5 provided so that the kneecap is exposed, the position corresponds to the left and right sides of the knee.

Further, the second fastener means e, f, g,
h is a position 90 ° in the circumferential direction at both ends of the outer peripheral surface of the supporter main body 1 with respect to the mounting positions of the base ends of the pair of fixing bands in the circumferential direction about the foot length direction (the frontal position of the knee and the rear surface thereof). Position), is fixed by sewing. The second fastener means is the locking projection or the locking member that engages with the first fastener means.

The knee supporter 1 can be locked and fixed to the supporter body 1 by pulling the fixing bands 2, 2 ', 3, 3' in any direction while the supporter body 1 is mounted on the knee of the foot.

That is, the locking relationship between the first fastener means a to d, a 'to d' and the second fastener means e, f, g, h in the embodiment of FIG. 1 will be described. The means a and b correspond to the second fastener means e, and the first fastener means a 'and b' correspond to the second fastener means f.
The first fasteners b and c can be locked to the second fastener g, and the first fasteners c 'and d' can be locked to the second fastener h.

Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, when it is easy to turn the body upright with the axle foot and turn right, it is located on the femur above the kneecap so that the extending portion can move more freely at that time. The pair of fixation bands are pulled rightward (clockwise), and the pair of fixation bands located at the tibia below the kneecap are pulled leftward.

The direction of tightening is opposite in the upper and lower fixed bands, and the action in the rotational direction about the length of the foot is applied to the quadriceps and other major muscles, thereby enabling the mechanical operation of the knee joint. The target distortion can be returned to a normal state.

For example, when the femur and the tibia are distorted outward (rightward direction of the instep of the foot when taking the right foot as an example), the fixation band of the tibia is stopped counterclockwise, and the fixation band of the femur is fixed. Stopping clockwise causes a counterclockwise effect on the quadriceps muscles, and also corrects the distortion of the knee joint itself counterclockwise.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the attachment position of the base end portion of the fixed band is on the left and right sides of the knee. However, the attachment position may be on the front and back of the knee. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the mounting position of the upper fixed band is located at the front and rear of the knee. In addition, when the knee joint distortion is relatively small,
Only one of the upper and lower positions of the knee joint on the outer peripheral surface of one of the supporter bodies may be used.

Although the first fastener means shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is formed on both sides of the tip of the fixing band, the first fastener means i is formed on one side as shown in FIG. The band-shaped locking piece 6 may be connected to the leading edge of the fixing band in a T-shape on the opposite surface.

In this structure, the first fastener means is rotated in a state in which the band-shaped locking piece 6 is rotated in the left or right direction about the coupling position to make the fixed band 2 and the band-shaped locking piece i linear. Since i is locked to the second fastener means e or f, the surface of the fastener means is not exposed to the outside. For this reason, by making the back surface of the band-shaped locking piece i the same finished surface of the band-shaped body, the appearance can be improved, and the problem that the zipper surface rubs against the clothes and damages the clothes and the zipper surface can be prevented. .

[0029]

According to the present invention, the fixation band provided on the outer peripheral surface of the supporter exerts an action in the rotational direction so as to promote the recovery of the muscles around the knee joint, particularly the quadriceps femoris, and the mechanical action of the knee joint is achieved. The distortion can be returned to a normal state.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a perspective view as viewed from the front and (b) is a plan view.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention viewed from the front.

3A and 3B are a plan view and a partially enlarged view of a knee supporter showing different examples of attaching the first fastener means to a fixed band.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a knee and a knee for explaining a relationship between a movement of a knee and a portion where a muscle is easily stretched and a portion to be tightened.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 supporter body 2, 2 ′, 3, 3 ′ fixing band 4 fixing base attaching end portions ad, a ′ to d ′, i first fastener means e, f, g, h second fastener Means 5 Hole to expose kneecap 6 Band-shaped locking piece

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A tubular knee supporter made of an elastic material, and a fixed band made of an elastic material having a base end fastened to upper and / or lower positions of a knee joint on an outer peripheral surface of the knee supporter, A first fastener provided at a distal end of the fixed band; and a first fastener provided at a predetermined position circumferentially separated from a base end of the fixed band on an outer peripheral surface of the knee supporter. A second fastener means for detachably fastening, wherein the fixing band is pulled in a direction in which the torsional load on the knee joint is light, so that the first fastener means is fastened to the second fastener means. A knee supporter characterized by the following. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the base ends of the pair of fixed bands are fixed at upper and lower positions of the knee joint on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical knee supporter, at both left and right positions or both front and rear positions of the knee joint. The knee supporter according to claim 1, wherein the second fastener means is provided at upper and lower positions of the knee joint on the outer peripheral surface of the knee supporter, at both front and rear positions or both right and left positions of the knee joint. 3. A band-shaped locking piece having a first fastener means formed on one surface thereof, and a T-shaped locking piece formed on the opposite surface to a leading edge of a fixing band.
2. The structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connection is made in the shape of a letter.
Or a knee supporter according to item 2.