The present disclosure relates to the technical field of human body movement protection devices, and particular to a joint protection device, including a joint protection device for an ankle with a footwear.
At present, there are mainly two types of joint protection devices: elastic fiber fabric protection devices with rubber bands and plastic supporting protection devices. The elastic fiber fabric protection devices with rubber bands and the plastic supporting protection devices are both simplex in material and structure, have the same physical properties in all directions and at all locations within the range of joint movement, thus they are limited in protection of joints under the requirement of consideration to joint movement functions. The elastic fiber fabric protection devices with rubber bands are limited in supporting the joints because of soft material thereof. The plastic supporting protection devices are hard and thus are strong in supporting the joints. However, at present, this type of protection device is large in structural volume, unsuited to bodies, uncomfortable for wearing, complex in structure, and relatively high in cost. Besides, it cannot bend, which affects limb movements.
To a basketball fan, the finger injury is not fatal as knee injury or ankle injury. However, fingers are slender and vulnerable, unable to bear great strength, and are in contact with a basketball momently. Therefore, fingers are more susceptible to get injured. Once the fingers are injured, a seriously negative effect may be undoubtedly caused on the basketball sport. Injured fingers may be more vulnerable, and thus may be easily susceptible to repeated injury, which causes the injured fingers hardly be restored for a long time. In the field of basketball sports, a basketball finger protection device that can provide effective protection to fingers has been always expected to appear. However, at present, there is only one type of finger protection device in the market, namely, an elastic barrel-shaped finger protection device with a rubber band. However, this type of finger protection device is not comfortable and is limited in protection of fingers. Therefore, it is still a problem to be solved in the art to develop a finger protection device that can provide effective protection to fingers and is comfortable.
In addition to fingers, the protection of other body parts such as ankles, knees, etc. also faces the above problems. Besides, for the joint movement protection, in addition to the front support, the lateral support is also important. Therefore, there is a need for a structure capable of supporting and protecting a joint in all directions.
Chinese patent CN2741614Y and US patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,862A both disclose structures that can provide front support to joints. However, since the joint protection body of these structures is solid and is placed on the joint rather than wrapping around the joint, these structures are bulky and inflexible, thereby affecting the joint movement (such as dribbling and throwing by hand) and wearing (for example, if used for ankle protection, the joint protection body is too thick to be worn in a shoe). Moreover, they cannot provide the lateral support to joints.
Besides, the joint protection device may also be integrated with other relevant products to realize some additional functions. One of the important applications is to be integrated with a footwear to protect the ankle from being injured. Chinese patent CN100420400C discloses a shoe with a protector (i.e. an ankle protector), which, however, does not have a good protective effect and flexibility. Moreover, this kind of shoe is complex in structure and expensive in cost, and the protector part of the shoe is exposed outside the shoe. Thus, this kind of shoe can be regarded as a simple combination of the protector and the shoe, and hence the appearance of the shoe is greatly limited. US patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,082A discloses a shoe that has a supporting and protecting function and a certain flexibility. However, since its supporting member is divided into a plurality of strip-shaped structures, and the upper part of the strip-shaped structures (which plays a key role in protecting the ankle) is disconnected and cannot not well wrap the ankle and its above parts, thus the supporting and protecting performance is very limited. In addition, the plurality of supporting strips (of which the upper part is disconnected) will affect the function of the cushion material (usually a sponge) in the shoe. For example, the sponge will be caught into the gap between adjacent supporting strips, and the sponge will be punctured at the disconnected places. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 7,832,122B2 discloses a shoe having a heel cup disposed at the heel part. Since the material of the heel cup is usually not tough, the heel cup needs to be made thicker and harder to achieve a sufficiently high bending strength, and for reasons of height and structure, it cannot really protect the ankle effectively and is not flexible. Furthermore, the heel cup of the shoe is a sheet of material before being inserted into the shoe, so that the required (cross-sectional) shape and thickness to fit the foot cannot be set as required. At the same time, since the material of the heel cup is usually cardboard or other similar sheet material, it is not good in toughness, and needs to be made thicker and harder to achieve a sufficiently high bending strength, so that the shoe is not comfortable. For these reasons, there is no athletic shoe on the market that is integrated with an ankle protection device and can effectively protect the ankle.
Therefore, there is a need for a joint protection device that is capable of supporting a joint in all directions without affecting normal joint movements, and this type of joint protection device is capable of being integrated with other relevant products as a whole, such as being integrated with a footwear as a whole to play a role of joint protection.
An object of the present disclosure lies in overcoming the above deficiencies and providing a joint movement protection device that is light and thin in volume, is simple in structure, can be firmly attached to a joint part without affecting normal joint movements, and is low in cost. In terms of the integration with the footwear, there are many occasions when a consumer wishes that an upper of the shoe is not too high in terms of beauty, breathable comfort and so on. However, from a mechanical point of view, for the same supporting force to the foot, the lower the upper (including an ankle protection member within the upper) is, the more concentrated the supporting force to the foot is, and the more likely to cause foot discomfort. The technical solution proposed in the present application well solves the above-mentioned problems.
The joint protection device provided by the present disclosure comprises a joint protection body whose horizontal shape matches a shape of a joint, the joint protection body being a hollow housing having an opened bottom and comprising a front supporting portion and side supporting portions distributed on two sides of the front supporting portion, the front supporting portion and the side supporting portions respectively wrapping a front surface and side surfaces of the joint to provide front and side support for the joint; at least one notch being provided in a portion, close to a joint movement area, of the joint protection body, the at least one notch dividing the joint protection body into a plurality of joint pieces, adjacent joint pieces being connected by two local junctions respectively provided at appropriate positions on two sides of the joint protection body, the adjacent joint pieces being capable of rotating with the local junctions as rotation fulcrums; and when the joint pieces rotate around the rotation fulcrums to a limiting position, the adjacent joint pieces coming into contact with each other and stopping rotating.
The joint protection device can have a fixing device that fixes the joint protection body to a wearer's joint. For example, the fixing device can be integrally formed onto the joint protection device, or a fabric can be sewed to the joint protection device by sewing. Meanwhile, the joint protection device may not have a fixing device but is fixed by means of other separate fixing devices such as adhesive tapes, or by combination with other devices, in particular but not limited to wearable devices, such as footwear.
Optionally, edges of the upper notch or the lower notch and the joint pieces are rounded off.
Optionally, a bottom width of the upper notch is larger than a top width of the upper notch.
Optionally, heights of a plurality of the joint pieces increase or decrease in a step-wise manner, and each joint piece extends outwardly and covers a top of the upper notch.
Optionally, the joint protection device includes a strip-shaped fixing belt, one end of the fixing belt is integrally formed on one side of the joint protection body while the other end of the fixing belt is provided with at least one buckle, the joint protection body is provided with through holes matched with the buckle, and the fixing belt, after wrapping around the joint, is fastened to the through hole by means of the buckle; wherein the other end of the fixing belt is further provided with at least one saw-toothed barb, and the joint protection body is further provided with corresponding through holes or semi-through holes matched with the saw-toothed barb.
Optionally, the joint protection device comprises an opened fixing ring or a closed fixing ring which are fixed to the joint protection body, and the opened fixing ring or the closed fixing ring is formed integrally with the joint protection body.
Optionally, an elastomer with an elasticity is injected between the joint pieces through overmolding, to support a part of a body weight by an elastic tension of the elastomer when the joint projection body is bent.
Optionally, at least one joint piece is further provided with hook-shaped structures matched with each other, and when the joint is bent inwardly until the hook-shaped structures contact with each other, the joint stops bending; wherein the joint protection body is further provided with a notch, a middle part of the notch is provided with a junction, and the joint pieces on two sides of the junction rotate in any direction with the junction as a rotation fulcrum.
Optionally, one end of the joint protection body extends to form a thin wall having an L-shape in a cross section.
Optionally, the joint protection device further comprises a footwear, the joint protection body is provided within the footwear, the footwear comprises a shoe sole, an upper and a heelpiece, and the joint protection body is disposed at the heelpiece.
Optionally, heights of the adjacent joint pieces increase or decrease in a step-wise manner; the joint protection body is placed laterally of, behind, and medially of a heel of the wearer's foot, and in a state in which a leg is upright, a longitudinal axis (X1) of the joint protection body is consistent with a longitudinal axis (X2) of the heelpiece; a lower part of the joint protection body is fixed to the heelpiece; a cushion structure is provided between the joint protection body and the wearer's foot; a contour of a bottom edge of the joint protection body is designed to be consistent with a contour of the shoe sole at its bottom edge, but gradually expands laterally in an upward direction; and a fastener of the footwear fits and fixes the joint protection body to the wearer's leg and foot.
Optionally, an end, close to a foot sole, of the joint protection body extends in a lateral direction of the heelpiece, and is completely opened along a direction of the shoe sole; or the end, close to a foot sole, of the joint protection body opens in the direction of the shoe sole, while a bottom edge of the joint protection body has a fixing structure that fixes the joint protection body to the shoe sole; wherein the joint protection body is placed and fixed between inner and outer layers of the upper; the footwear is elastic in a longitudinal direction of the upper at the outer layer in an anterior-posterior region corresponding to the ankle height, and there is no fixation between the upper and the joint protection body in this region, so as to ensure that the joint protection body and the inner and outer layers of the heel can slide relative to each other in this region, thereby ensuring flexibility of the footwear.
Optionally, the cushion structure between the joint protection body and the wearer's foot is used by one of the following: adhering a molded foam member to the joint protection main body; or directly molding a foam material onto the joint protection body by using a mold.
Optionally, a hardness of the foam member is between 18 HC and 38 HC.
Optionally, a ratio G:F of a minimum thickness G to a length F of the local junction is between 0.15 and 1.1; and an included angle formed between the notch and a horizontal direction is within ±35°.
Optionally, the joint protection body is a housing having an arc-shaped cross section.
The present disclosure further provides a joint protection device, comprising a joint protection body whose horizontal shape matches a shape of a joint, the joint protection body being a hollow housing having an opened bottom and comprising a front supporting portion and side supporting portions distributed on two sides of the front supporting portion, the front supporting portion and the side supporting portions respectively wrapping a front surface and side surfaces of the joint to provide a front and side support for the joint; an upper end of the joint protection body provides a clearance structure that allows joint movement.
Optionally, the clearance structure is a notch formed by a middle position of the upper end being depressed downward, or an moving space formed by the upper end being inclined rearward.
Optionally, the joint protection device further comprises a footwear, and the joint protection body is higher than the ankle of the wearer. The footwear comprises a shoe sole, an upper and a heelpiece. The joint protection body is disposed at the heelpiece of the footwear and wrapped between inner and outer layers of the upper. The joint protection body comprises a fixing portion below the ankle and an upper supporting portion above the ankle, the fixing portion being at least partially fixed to the heelpiece. The fastener of the footwear fits and fixes the joint protection body to the wearer's leg and foot. A cushion structure is provided between the joint protection body 1 and the foot. The contour of the bottom of the fixing portion is designed to be basically consistent with the contour of the shoe sole, but gradually expands laterally in an upward direction. The joint protection body is generally tightened in a width direction from the inner and outer ankle parts upward.
Optionally, material of the upper at the corresponding position of the notch of the joint protection body may be elastic, or the upper here may also be provided with a corresponding shoe notch.
Optionally, a material-removing structure is provided in the upper supporting portion.
The housing having an arc-shaped cross section has good rigidity, and therefore the joint protection device proposed in the embodiment of the present disclosure can effectively protect the human joint. The joint protection body is integrated with the footwear so as to further improve the protection effect on the ankle. The hollow housing structure makes the joint protection device proposed in the embodiment of the present disclosure simple and light in structure. Meanwhile, the joint protection device proposed in the embodiment of the present disclosure allows the joint to be movable within an allowable range with good flexibility, especially allows the ankle joint to move flexibly, and solves the problem of hindrance of ankle joint movement in the prior art.
In order to make the aims, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clear, the technical solution of the present disclosure is described in detail in the following with reference to specific embodiments and drawings of specification. It is understood that the following specific embodiments are merely illustrative and not for limiting.
As shown in
As shown in
When the local junction 13 is located at a bottom edge of the joint protection body 1, the joint protection body 1 only has an upper notch 11; when the local junction 3 is located at a certain distance above the bottom edge of the joint protection body 1, the joint protection body 1 has both an upper notch 11 and a lower notch 14. Taking the finger supporting protector as an example, when the fingers are straightened, adjacent joint pieces 12 on both sides of each upper notch 10 contact with each other and do not rotate no longer. In this way, the joint is prevented from overbending toward a direction to back of a hand, thereby achieving the aim of protecting a finger. Regarding to finger joints, most importantly, the finger needs to be prevented from overbending toward the back of the finger, which is a primary cause to injury to the finger joints. The case of the above embodiment may be adopted when restricting the finger joints from bending toward a direction of a palm of the hand is left out of account.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the adjacent joint pieces of the upper notch 11 just come into contact with each other when the joint is straightened, at the moment the adjacent joint pieces 12 do not rotate anymore because of a rigid support action of the joint protection body, so that the joint is prevented from overbending toward the direction of the back of the hand, thereby achieving the aim of protecting the finger. When the joint bends toward the direction of the palm of the hand to a certain extent, two adjacent joint pieces 12 of the lower notch 14 just come into contact with each other, at the moment the adjacent joint pieces 12 of the lower notch 14 do not rotate anymore because of a rigid support action of the joint protection body, so that the joint is prevented from overbending toward the direction of the palm of the hand, thereby achieving the aim of protecting the finger.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, edges of the upper notch 11 or the lower notch 14 and the joint piece 12 are rounded off. Here, edges of the upper notch 11 or the lower notch 14 and the joint piece 12 are rounded off to improve fitness to the human body and performance.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in
As shown in
In the embodiment shown in
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in
In other embodiments of the present disclosure, a suitable structural style adopting other types may be selected as required for the fixing device 2. For example, a traditional Velcro tape can be adopted for fixation, or the joint protection body 1 may be inlaid and fixed into a glove or an elastic fabric. Alternatively, the joint protection device itself may not include a fixing device 2, but is fixed by means of a separate fixing belt of other types. For example, a separate adhesive tape may be adopted to wrap it around and fix it to the wearer's body. An independent fixing belt, which can adopt a material in a proper form and match with a buckle having a proper structure to closely fitting the joint protection body 1 to the joint of the human body. It should be noted that the term “closely fitting” used in the context of this text refers to a positional relationship between the joint protection body and the joint. It is not limited to directly fitting the joint protection body to the joint. On the contrary, the joint protection body may also be indirectly fitted to the joint. For example, the situations in which a certain structure (such as a fabric) exists between the joint protection body and the joint also belong to the “closely fitting” situations. In addition, the term “joint” used in the context of this text does not exactly correspond to the “joint” in anatomy, but refers to an area where the joint is located or even includes areas near it. For simplicity, only “joint” is used for the description.
As shown in
Alternatively, as shown in
Alternatively, as shown in
Alternatively, the joint protection body 1 can be fixed on joint by the following means: the joint protection body 1 matched with the shape and structure of joint to be protected may be inlaid or fixed into a fabric, and then the fabric is wrapped around the joint and fixed by Velcro.
Exemplarily, as shown in
Furthermore, if people need to restrict movement of joint in multiple directions, a plurality of joint protection bodies 1 can be used, i.e. the joint protection body 1 matched with the shape and structure of joint to be protected may be inlaid or fixed into a fabric with certain shape and size, and then the fabric is wrapped around the joint and fixed by Velcro. Specifically, as shown in
The joint protection device according to the present disclosure can be further applied to some other parts of human body, such as elbow, ankle, waist, wherein the structures and principles thereof are the same, but different shapes should be designed for different body parts to be protected.
Alternatively, the above joint protection device can be used in combination with self-adhesive non-woven fabrics or various tape or gummed paper or some other fixing means, directly applied to sports protection or health care. For example, in order to protect knee-joint, see
In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the above joint protection device can also be inlaid into sporting gloves (such as goalkeeper's gloves) as a reinforce, to withstand the impact when hands catch a football, to prevent injuries to the fingers; alternatively, the above joint protection device can also be applied as an internal layer of surface decorative parts of artificial limbs, as a support of the decorative parts; through the joint protection device, the structures of the artificial limbs can be simplified, making it more aesthetic, while keeping it flexible.
Based on the above technical features, the joint protection device proposed in the embodiments of the invention can be firmly attached to a joint part, does not affect the normal joint movement, and effectively protect joints; moreover, it is simple in structure and low in cost, and can be efficiently and conveniently worn and detached.
The joint protection device according to the present disclosure also comprises a footwear. The joint protection body in the joint protection device can be used in combination with the footwear to play a role of ankle protection. Detailed description is given below in combination with the figures and embodiments.
Referring to
In embodiments of the present disclosure as shown in
Optionally, the heights of the plurality of joint pieces 12 increase or decrease in a step-wise manner. When the joint bends, adjacent joint pieces overlap without interfering with each other or affecting joint movements, thereby ensuring that the joint can move freely, and other structures on the footwear 4 can be prevented from getting stuck in the notch. In addition, in terms of the supporting effect, the increase or decrease of the heights of the adjacent joint pieces 12 in a step-wise manner can avoid influence to the rigidity and supporting of the whole joint protection device due to the needs to enlarge and widen the notch and to reduce the width of each joint piece in order to prevent mutual interference between the joint pieces 12 when the joint is moving.
In embodiments of the present disclosure as shown in
Optionally, in order that the tightened upper supporting portion 17 does not press too hard on the foot and leg to cause discomfort, the embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a material-removing structure 20 for increasing the flexibility of the corresponding part of the joint protection body 1. The present application provides two types of material-removing structures 20: 1) as shown in
Optionally, the lower end of the fixing portion 16 extends downwardly in the shoe to the sole. Since the supporting member fixing portion is fixed to the heelpiece of the shoe so that the supporting member is formed integrally with the shoe sole without any excessive deformation region therebetween, thus they have excellent rigidity as a whole, thereby supporting and protecting the ankle well.
Optionally, referring to
Further, referring to
In embodiments of the present disclosure as shown in
Further, in order to improve the quality and efficiency, a process of foam injection molding may also be employed. A high-strength foam material is directly molded onto the joint protection body to fabricate a joint protection body with a cushion structure inside it. The hardness of the foam material is very important for the performance of the footwear 4. If the foam material is too hard, it will affect the comfort level of the shoe. If it is too soft, the thickness of the foam cushion structure must be increased, and if the material is too soft, its strength will also decrease. Therefore, the foam cushion structure preferably has a hardness between 18 HC and 38 HC. The foam cushion structure with a hardness within this range has the best overall performance and can ensure the comfort level of the wearer.
In non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure shown in
Since shoes are products that are worn on feet for a long time, the life span of the shoes is very important. For the footwear 4 in the present disclosure, the weakest portions are the local junctions 13 between adjacent joint pieces, i.e. the rotation fulcrums between the adjacent joint pieces. Referring to
Further, as shown in
The above-mentioned footwear 4 includes various shoes that need the ankle protection function (for example, roller skates, basketball shoes, football shoes, badminton shoes, outdoor sports shoes, etc.). Since their structures and functions are basically the same, they will not be specifically described and defined here.
In addition, the above are merely specific implementations of the present disclosure, but the protection scope of the present disclosure is not limited to this. The skilled familiar to the art can make various equivalent transformations and substitutions without departing from the spirit of the invention and these transformations and substitutions fall within the scope defined by claims. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201410365832.3 | Jul 2014 | CN | national |
202210202736.1 | Mar 2022 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/941,771, filed on Jul. 29, 2020, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/328,654, filed on Jan. 24, 2017. The U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/328,654 is a national phase application of International Application No. PCT/CN2015/085291, filed on Jul. 28, 2015, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201410365832.3, filed on Jul. 29, 2014. This application also claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202210202736.1, filed on Mar. 2, 2022. All of the aforementioned patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 16941771 | Jul 2020 | US |
Child | 18177283 | US | |
Parent | 15328654 | Jan 2017 | US |
Child | 16941771 | US |