Patent Application
20230218014
In obstetrics, it is well-known that the supine position in pregnant women alters maternal cardiovascular parameters, particularly during labor. Recent research has identified the maternal supine sleeping position as a possible novel modifiable risk factor for stillbirth and low birth weight. It has also been demonstrated that low birthweight mediates the effects of supine sleep on stillbirth, it is estimated that 6% of stillbirths and up to 17% of low birth weights may be averted through modification of this novel risk factor.
Furthermore, the physiological and hormonal changes associated with pregnancy result in changes in sleep architecture, which place pregnant women at higher risk for the development of sleep-disordered breathing, which refers to a wide spectrum of sleep-related breathing abnormalities including increased upper airway resistance (snoring) and obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome. The incidence of both snoring and obstructive sleep apnea has been shown to be increased in pregnant women, which may further put the fetus at risk. Indeed, the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea in the non-pregnant population of reproductive age women is estimated to be 0.7-6.5%. However, in the 1st and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy, the prevalence is 8.4 and 19.7%, respectively. Positional therapy is a simple, non-invasive, inexpensive, long-established, safe, and effective intervention for preventing people with positional-dependent snoring or mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea from sleeping supine—a position that exacerbates their condition.
There are several techniques used for positional therapy such as positional alarms, verbal instructions, special pillows, tennis balls, vests, and “shark fins”. The latter four techniques prevent the wearer from lying supine in a passive manner by physically preventing the wearer from turning into a supine position.
Some pregnant women sleep with many pillows supporting their body, including a pillow behind their back to avoid the supine position. Maternal body pillows, regular pillows, and pelvic belts (lumbar support) have been used by pregnant women during sleep without reports of serious adverse effects for the mother or neonate. Asking women to sleep on their left increases the percentage of left sided sleep to approximately 60% of the night; however, this may come at a cost of reduced sleep duration (which is known to be detrimental), perhaps due to the feeling they need to make a conscious effort to maintain sleep position.
Implemented is a positional therapy maternity belt that interoperates with and leverages multiple removably attachable pillows and other components to facilitate enhanced and effortless positional therapy for a user during pregnancy. The maternity belt comes equipped with a right and left band that wraps around the waist of the user. The left and right bands are comprised of elastic strapping faced with 85% nylon and 15% polyester knit on the inside/interior side and a 100% nylon loop face on the outside/exterior side. In between the bands and at a central region of the belt is a rectangular central section overlaid with a non-stretch loop fastener in a configuration that allows for breathability.
The central section of the maternity belt utilizes a rear hook-and-loop fastener. Multiple and various types of pillows and other components can removably attach to the central section to provide additional and differing comfort and support to the user. Exemplary pillows and components include a right-angle triangle wedge-shaped pillow, an isosceles triangle wedge-shaped pillow, a bean bag pillow, an air chamber attachment, a rectangular memory foam pillow with embedded firm shapes, a trapezoidal-shaped pillow, and a hot or cold thermal pack, among other components. All of the various pillows can be switched on and off by the user to enable the user to select the pillow or component that is ideal for their sleep position, and namely to avoid the supine sleep position.
The maternity belt is designed for adjustability and comfort. The belt permits maximum adjustment for a comfortable and secure fit and enabling easy removal with a stretch looped belt surface and hook-and-loop attachment.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure. These and various other features will be apparent from a reading of the following Detailed Description and a review of the associated drawings.
Like reference numerals indicate like elements in the drawings. Elements are not drawn to scale unless otherwise indicated.
The cinching straps 155, 160 overlap with respective left and right bands 110, 112 and can be utilized to adjust the tightness of the maternity belt 105. Each cinching strap is attached, such as stitching, to the edges of the central section 135. The cinching straps are at least partially comprised of an elastic material (e.g., elastic, elastane, stretch yarn, stretch polyester, stretch nylon, etc.) to enable a user to pull and tighten or release and loosen depending on the scenario. For example, the cinching straps may be beneficial to apply the correct level of radially-directed compression without adjusting the left and right bands. Furthermore, when the maternity belt is in use when the user is laying down, the user's abdomen and overall body shift, which can cause loosening of the belt. The cinching straps can then be used to tighten and adjust the belt to have a snug fit.
An exterior side 100 of the maternity belt 105 includes a central section 135 positioned between the right and left bands 110, 112. The exterior side of the left band includes a fastener 130, and an interior side 200 of the right band includes a corresponding fastener 205. Specifically, the left band's entire exterior surface area is comprised of a fastening mechanism, such as a hook-and-loop fastener 130, and the right band includes a corresponding fastener 205 near its distal end. This arrangement enables the user to easily adjust the right band's fastener to any location on the left band. The right band's fastener overlaps and engages with the exterior side of the left band when the user wears the belt by first wrapping the left band toward their abdomen and then pulling over the right band. The fasteners in this implementation may be hook-and-loop fasteners (e.g., Velcro®), but other types of fasteners are also possible, such as snaps or friction fits, a buckle, buttons, etc.
The exterior side 100 of the central section is overlaid with a non-stretch loop fastener 150 to enable additional cushion and component attachment thereto, as discussed in greater detail below. As shown in
The maternity belt 105 can be used with a variety of cushions and components to provide specific forms and options of positional therapy for a user. The remainder of the drawings,
The air chamber 405 comes with a casing 430 that substantially corresponds in shape and size to the inflatable air chamber 405. The casing is likewise a loaf of bread-shaped 435 and can receive the air chamber when inflated. In addition, the casing, namely the substantially flat side of the casing, may be configured with the corresponding fastener to enable the inflatable air chamber to attach to the maternity belt's fastener.
The right-angle triangle wedge-shaped pillow 1005 is comprised of a foam polyurethane 1010 layer and a memory foam 1015 layer. In addition, the bottom of the pillow includes a curvature 1020 to provide greater comfort against the user's back when the pillow is secured to the maternity belt 105 and in use.
The memory foam pillow 1600 includes a sets of two holes 1635 at the right and left edge that extend entirely from the top to the bottom side. A firm spherical shape is placed in each hole as representatively shown by numeral 1615, but other shapes are also possible. The holes are present to help maintain the relative positions of the firm spherical shapes and prevent them from escaping or moving during use. A user may be at least partially lying flat on their back when using the maternity belt 105 with the rectangular memory foam pillow with embedded firm shapes attached. The firm spherical shapes are positioned along the central section to provide subtle pressure points at specific anatomically relevant locations when the user is lying flat on their back, which prompts the user to change positions to their side.
Various embodiments are disclosed herein. In one exemplary embodiment, disclosed is a women's maternity belt having an exterior side and an interior side, the maternity belt being adapted to provide positional therapy during sleep, comprising: a right band having a distal end and a central section end; a left band having a distal end and a central section end; and a central section positioned in between the right and left bands, wherein the exterior side of the central section includes an attachment mechanism.
As another example, the attachment mechanism is a hook-and-loop fastener. As a further example, further comprising an inflatable air chamber positioned inside a correspondingly-shaped casing, wherein the inflatable air chamber and casing are substantially cylindrical with one substantially flat side, and wherein the substantially flat side of the casing includes a hook-and-loop fastener to attach to the maternity belt's hook-and-loop fastener. As another example, further comprising a bean bag pillow and correspondingly-shaped casing, an isosceles wedge-shaped pillow and correspondingly-shaped casing, a right-angle wedge-shaped pillow and correspondingly-shaped casing, a rectangular memory foam pillow with embedded firm shapes and correspondingly-shaped casing, a temperature pack and corresponding casing, and a trapezoidal side pillow and correspondingly-shaped casing, each one of which includes a hook-and-loop fastener on the casing to attach to the maternity belt's hook-and-loop fastener. In another example, further comprising a temperature pack and correspondingly-shaped casing inside which the temperature pack is inserted, wherein the casing is comprised of elastic material and stretchable to enable the casing to stretch with the maternity belt when the left band or right band are stretched during use. In another example, further comprising a bean bag pillow positioned inside a correspondingly-shaped casing, wherein the bean bag pillow and casing are substantially rectangular with one substantially flat side, and wherein the substantially flat side of the casing includes a hook-and-loop fastener to attach to the maternity belt's hook-and-loop fastener. In another example, further comprising an isosceles triangle wedge-shaped pillow positioned inside a correspondingly-shaped casing, wherein a bottom surface of the isosceles triangle wedge-shaped pillow and casing is inwardly curved to accommodate a back of a user when attached to the maternity belt's hook-and-loop fastener and worn by a user, and wherein the inwardly curved side of the casing includes a hook-and-loop fastener to attach to the maternity belt's hook-and-loop fastener. As a further example, further comprising a right-angle wedge-shaped pillow positioned inside a correspondingly-shaped casing, wherein a bottom surface of the right-angle wedge-shaped pillow and casing is inwardly curved to accommodate a back of a user when attached to the maternity belt's hook-and-loop fastener and worn by a user, and wherein the inwardly curved side of the casing includes a hook-and-loop fastener to attach to the maternity belt's hook-and-loop fastener. As a further example, further comprising a memory foam attachment with embedded firm shapes positioned, the memory foam attachment positioned inside a correspondingly-shaped casing to form a memory foam pillow, wherein the casing is substantially rectangular with one substantially flat side, and wherein the substantially flat side of the casing includes a hook-and-loop fastener to attach to the maternity belt's hook-and-loop fastener. In another example, wherein the memory foam attachment includes multiple holes inside which respective spheres are positioned to provide pressure points during use of the maternity belt. As another example, the holes extend fully from a top side to a bottom side of the memory foam attachment. In another example, further comprising left and right cinching straps positioned on an exterior side of the maternity belt and which respectively overlap with the left and right bands, wherein the cinching straps are elastic and provide tightening and loosening of the maternity belt when worn. In another example, a surface of the left band's exterior side is comprised of a fastening material. In another example, the distal end of the right band's interior side is comprised of a fastening material that engages with the fastening material on the left band's exterior side.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
This Non-Provisional application claims the benefit of and priority to PCT Application Serial No. PCT/IB2021/000390, filed Jun. 9, 2021, entitled “Positional Therapy Maternity Belt,” which claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/038,209, entitled “Wearable Girdle Used for Musculoskeletal Support and Positional Therapy in Pregnant Women,” filed Jun. 12, 2020, the entire contents of both applications of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2021/000390 | 6/9/2021 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63038209 | Jun 2020 | US |
