Patent Application
20190133229
This invention relates to a method for tailoring a compression garment. The compression garment comprises a first sheet and a second sheet, each having a first lateral end and a second lateral end. Furthermore, the compression garment comprises at least one strap for holding together the first lateral end of the first sheet and the first lateral end of the second sheet, wherein said at least one strap is tightenable to establish a compression level to a human limb or body part by the compression garment. The invention further relates to a compression garment kit.
Edema may arise from a variety of illnesses and conditions, including venous valvular insufficiency, postphlebotic syndrome, and lymphedema. Compression methods control edema by reducing interstitial fluid.
Due to considerable variation in limb shapes and sizes, custom garments may typically be required. To facilitate the manufacture of these garments, various partially fabricated kits are available for a therapist or fitter to customize and fit a patient. Typical compression garment kits require measuring the patient to indicate cutting locations on the compression garment, in a manner that takes time and provides limited accuracy. The position of the measurement on the patient may not exactly align with the location marked on the garment, and typically only two or three measurements are transferred to the garment.
Compression garments supplied in kit form known in the art either do not provide a contoured shape to precisely fit the body part or limb, or the process for assembling the contoured shape is very tedious.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method for easily and quickly tailoring a compression garment to a patient.
This object is met by a method for tailoring a compression garment, said compression garment comprising
After having tailored the compression garment, the patient can tighten the straps in order to establish a compression to the human limb or body part.
The first step of adjusting the at least one strap can be performed by the patient or an auxiliary person. Alternatively, the first step can be performed by the manufacturer such that the straps are already correctly adjusted when the patient buys the product.
The third step can be performed by the patient or the auxiliary person by holding the first sheet and the second sheet together by hand or by a fixation element, for example. The term “second lateral end” is broadly understood. The “second lateral end” comprises all positions between the edges of the sheets and the position where the sheets start surrounding the human limb or body part. This understanding will be further explained by the description of the drawings.
The disclosed method enables the patient or an auxiliary person to easily and quickly tailor the compression garment to the individual shape and size of the patient's body part or limb. A method for custom fitting a compression garment is disclosed whereby no measurements of the patient are required to tailor a garment that is easy to assemble and fits the contour of a patient's limb or body part. Furthermore, the compression garment is appropriate for use where reduction in edema is anticipated, as it can easily be trimmed to fit a smaller body size after the edema has been reduced by the disclosed method.
The at least one strap of the compression garment provided to securing the garment in the compression state may be of the hook and loop type, or known as VELCRO® fasteners, or may comprise or include other known fastening means.
By a preferred embodiment of the method, the second lateral end of the first sheet and the second lateral end of the second sheet are held together, in particular by at least one temporary releasable fixation element, such that the lateral edges of the first sheet and of the second sheet are aligned.
If the lateral edges are aligned, the patient or the auxiliary person only needs to mark one sheet of the garment and can cut both sheets at the same time. If the edges are not aligned, one would have to mark both sheets of the garment when tailoring, and cut the two sheets independently. Furthermore, if the edges are not aligned, the first sheet and the second sheet might not have the same size and the straps might not be centered on the compression garment.
By a further preferred embodiment of the method, the second lateral end of the first sheet and the second lateral end of the second sheet are held together by arranging at least one fixation element at a top end and/or at a bottom end at the most inner meeting point of the second lateral end of the first sheet and the second sheet, and/or by arranging at least one fixation element at the lateral edges of the second lateral ends of the first sheet and the second sheet.
It is preferred that the second lateral end of the first sheet and the second lateral end of the second sheet are held together by arranging at least one fixation element directly at said limb or body part or with a small distance from said limb or said body part, preferably with a distance of at most 3 cm or at most 1 cm or at most 0.5 cm, on said lateral ends opposite to the straps. “Directly” means that the fixation element is arranged as close to the limb or the body part as possible with the normal strength of a human.
Advantageously, the splicing element comprises a slide fastener, in particular a zip fastener.
Furthermore, at the sixth step both cut ends might additionally be spliced together by the fixation element.
The exact length of the cut ends will vary, as the compression garment can be cut down in length and the cut ends are curved in shape. Since it is not desired to cut the splicing element, in particular the zip fastener, it is designed to be shorter in length than the cut ends. At least one fixation element, which has already been used for holding the sheets together while marking and cutting the sheets might be placed adjacent to the splicing element as an additional splicing element.
By a preferred embodiment, the splicing element is attached on the first sheet and on the second sheet by hook-and-loop fasteners, known as VELCRO®.
A strip of a hook surface might be sewn to each side of the zip fastener, and the strips are attached to the hook receptive surface of the garment.
Advantageously, the cutting line is marked on the garment
Furthermore, a cumulated length of the first sheet and the second sheet and the at least one strap might be longer than a circumference of said limb or body before tailoring the compression garment.
By a preferred embodiment the first sheet and the second sheet extend to the full longitudinal length of the compression garment wherein the longitudinal length of the sheets is perpendicular to the lateral length of the sheets.
By a further preferred embodiment, the method comprises a further step before the first step, wherein the compression garment is pre-cut to get the size of the compression garment closer to the size of the limb before precisely tailoring the compression garment.
Furthermore, the fixation element might be a spring loaded clip.
It is another object of the invention to provide a compression garment kit that allows an easy and quick tailoring of the compression garment.
This object is met by a compression garment kit which comprises a compression garment with
The compression garment comprises an additional fixation element for temporarily holding together the first sheet and the second sheet.
Advantageously, the first sheet and the second sheet extend to the full longitudinal length of the compression garment.
The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by describing in detail preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:
An example of the method and of a compression garment kit according to the invention are now described in more detail with reference to
In
The first lateral ends 11 and 21 are held together by several straps 3. The straps 3 are connected to the first lateral end 11 of the first sheet 1 by a seam 31 and to the first lateral end 21 of the second sheet 2 by a hook and loop fastener 32 which are known as VELCRO®-fasteners. Alternatively, the straps could alternate with the first strap sewn to the first sheet 1, the second strap sewn to the second sheet 2, the third strap sewn to the first sheet 1, and so forth. The inner surface of the straps 3 comprises a hook layer and the outer surface of the second sheet 2 comprises a loop layer. The straps are adjustable to establish and adjust the compression during the use of the compression garment.
The second lateral ends 12 and 22 are held together by several temporary releasable fixation elements 41. The fixation elements 41 may be connected to the second lateral ends 12 and 22 by a hook and loop fastener, as shown in the figures, or any other releasable fixing means, such as a spring loaded clip.
In
The straps 3 are in a first position providing the largest extension of the at least one strap 3. With other words, the overlap 33 between the strap 3 and the second sheet 2 is as small as possible such that the straps 3 can be tightened in the direction of the arrow 34 in order to establish compression to the leg.
In
The second lateral ends 12 and 22 of the sheets 1 and 2 are understood to comprise the whole section on the back side of the leg 5 as indicated by the arrow 6.
The fixation elements 41 are arranged at the lateral edges of the second lateral ends 12 and 22 of the first sheet 1 and the second sheet 2. The fixation element 42 is arranged at the top end 61 (the bottom end is marked with the number 62) of the sheets 1 and 2 and at the most inner meeting point 63 of the second lateral ends of the first sheet 1 and the second sheet 2. If the sheets are pulled back far enough to produce tension in the first sheet 1 and the second sheet 2, this will serve to hold the compression garment in place so that it does not fall down.
The fixation element 42 is arranged such that the second lateral end 12 of the first sheet 1 and the second lateral end 22 of the second sheet 2 are held together by the fixation element 42 directly at the leg 5 opposite to the straps 3. If desired, an additional fixation element 42a can be similarly placed at the bottom of the garment.
In
The cutting line 7 may only be marked on the second sheet 2. If the fitter does not have the capability of cutting both the first sheet 1 and the second sheet 2 simultaneously, the cutting line may be marked on the first sheet 1 and the second sheet 2.
In
In
As shown in
The splicing element 9 is designed to be shorter than the compression garment because the longitudinal length 64 of the compression garment will vary, as the length of the compression garment can be cut down in length and the required splicing element length will vary if the seam is curved in shape. Therefore, both cut ends 13 and 23 are additionally spliced together by the fixation element 42 which is cut to width to fit the remaining length above the splicing element 9. A further fixation element 42 or 41 might be arranged below the splicing element.
Now, the compression garment is individually tailored and can be donned to the leg by detaching the releasable ends of straps 3 from the mating surfaces of the first sheet 1 or the second sheet 2. The straps 3 can be tightened in the direction of the arrow 34 such that the overlap between the strap 3 and the second sheet 2 is increased in order to establish compression to the leg.
If a reduction of edema occurs, the circumference of the leg decreases. The compression garment can be tailored again. For this, the straps 3 are adjusted to be in position providing the largest extension of the straps 3, the splicing element 9 is removed from the sheets 1 and 2, the lateral ends 12 and 22 are held together by arranging fixation elements 41 at the cut ends 13 and 23 and the tailoring of the compression garment is completed according to the further steps of the already disclosed method.
While there has been illustrated and described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true scope of the invention. Therefore, it is intended that this invention shall not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
