Patent Application
20220104639
The popularity and widespread use of massage tables has risen in recent years. Massage tables are used not only for basic massage therapy but also for medical examinations, reflexology, physiotherapy, acupuncture, reiki healing, and the like. A typical table has an easily cleaned, padded surface, and a face cradle that allows the client to comfortably rest their face and breathe while lying face down. Unfortunately, for some people, breathing efficiently in this setting may be challenging.
The close proximity of the client to the therapist or healthcare professional performing services with a massage table creates an environment conducive to the spread of infection. With the pandemic conditions of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), this proximity has become even more of an issue as the recommended distance between people to avoid spreading infection is six feet. Public health officials further recommend (and in some places mandate) that if social distancing of six feet is not possible, the mouth and nose should be covered with a cloth (or other material) face cover. Wearing a face cover while face down on a massage table may aggravate or create breathing discomfort and difficulties in some people.
The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated in and form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrate embodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explain various principles and advantages of those embodiments.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.
An aspect of the specification provides a method for preventing the spread of a communicable disease during a close proximity services session using a massage table incorporating a face cradle by assembling a device to the face cradle prior to the close proximity services session, where the device captures one or more respiratory droplets excreted by a client during the close proximity services session. The device includes a closed sidewall, an open sidewall, a top portion mechanically connected to the closed and to the open sidewall, wherein the top portion includes a securing means for securing the top portion to the face cradle and a bottom portion mechanically connected to the closed sidewall.
The close proximity of the practitioner 102 and the client 104 creates a potential for the spread of communicable diseases. Communicable diseases are transmitted from person to per-son primarily via virus-laden large droplets that are generated when infected persons cough or sneeze. These large droplets can then be directly deposited onto the mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract of susceptible persons who are in close proximity (for example, within 6 feet) to the droplet source. In practice, therapy services performed by the practitioner 102 on the client 104 using the massage table 106 are close proximity services. There is no known practical alternative of performing such services from a safe distance. Transmission from the practitioner 102 to the client 104 or vice versa may occur through direct as well as indirect contact with infectious respiratory secretions or infectious expiratory droplets or airborne droplet nuclei. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide guidelines suggesting to wear a face covering to avoid transmission of infectious droplets. Further, face coverings in public are mandated in certain geographic locations due to high levels of communicable disease cases, such as COVID-19.
During traditional close proximity services sessions, breathing while lying face down is difficult due to accumulation of toxins in sinuses which ultimately may lead to respiratory conditions such as nasal congestion. Wearing a face covering may aggravate these respiratory issues.
During chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma or Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), covering a client's mouth and nose may be especially challenging. The physical barrier of the face mask makes it harder to take in air; it also traps some carbon dioxide as one exhales, which means he/she ends up breathing in air that is warmer and moist. For some, these conditions may feel suffocating.
A process of the prevention of the spread of communicable disease during close proximity services sessions will be described hereinafter with reference to
In operation 206, during the progression of the close proximity services session the client 104 may lie face down on the massage table 106 with the client's face resting in the face cradle of the massage table 106 as illustrated in
Referring to
The securing means 308 may include hook-and-loop fasteners, or one or more snap closures, elastic elements such as rubber that will be appropriately fitted to the face cradle to facilitate easy removal and replacement of the barrier device on to a face cradle 300. The barrier device 300 that attaches to the face cradle 310 may be made of single or multilayer washable product materials such as cotton, polyester, copper fabric, quilting fabric and silk that is replaced after each use and may be easily cleaned and disinfected after each use.
According to the operation 708, the client faces down on a massage table which leads to aerosol particles transmission. Aerosol transmission is plausible when infectious aerosols are generated by or from an infectious person, the pathogen remains viable in the environment for some period of time, and the target tissues in which the pathogen initiates infection are accessible to the aerosol as illustrated in operations 710 and 712.
According to the operations 714 and 716, when the barrier device is installed on the massage table it acts as a filter for prevention of transmission of aerosol or airborne particles due its electrostatic mechanism and allows airborne particles to adhere on the surface of the barrier device. Absorption of airborne particles using the barrier device reduces the exposure of the aerosol particles in the surrounding.
According to some embodiments, the barrier device 300 may be formed of any shape or size. In an alternate embodiment, the barrier device 300 may be composed of additional or fewer components. In the one of the embodiment, the barrier device 300 is designed to cover an area of the massage table that is below the face cradle of the massage table in order to prevent release of infectious respiratory droplets in the surroundings as well as other exposed portions of the massage table and face cradle in that area.
According to an embodiment, the closed side wall 302 of the barrier device 300 may further include protective filters layer along with the washable product materials for prevention of release of air droplets in the surrounding.
As used herein, “airborne” refers to infectious agents that may be transmitted from persons or animals or environments by either “droplet infection” via the transmis-sion of infectious droplets, or by “airborne transmission” via the transmission of infectious “airborne droplet nuclei”. serious illnesses which are transmitted by airborne droplet nuclei include, but are not limited to, measles, varicella-zoster virus infections, legionella, disseminated zoster, tuberculosis, canine influenzas, psittacosis, inclusion body disease of boid snakes, foot and-mouth disease (FMD), avian influenzas including influenza A (H5N1), H5N9 and SARS-COVID-19.
In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present teachings.
The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential features or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is defined solely by the appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency of this application and all equivalents of those claims as issued.
Moreover, in this document, relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”, “having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element preceded by “comprises . . . a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”, “approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined as being close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and in one non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, in another embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and in another embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly and not necessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” in a certain way is configured in at least that way but may also be configured in ways that are not listed.
The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.
