Patent Application
20250221500
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The disclosure relates to a post-surgical protective covering and more particularly pertains to a new post-surgical foot protector for protecting the toes of a patient after surgery on the foot or toes.
In some surgical procedures on the feet, the patient's foot is placed in a cast that extends from the ankle or calf area to the toes of the foot. Often the cast terminates before the toes to allow the cast to be somewhat breathable, thereby leaving the toes exposed and susceptible to injury. The toes could strike against an object, such as furniture or walls. The toes could be struck by an object, such as a falling object. The toes could also be exposed to inclement weather. All of these injuries could not only cause great pain to the patient, but also inhibit the healing process.
In addition, not only are the toes exposed, but sometimes surgical devices attached to the patient are exposed. For example, in one type of foot surgery, one or more metatarsal bones may be removed and temporarily replaced with pins. These pins often have small balls attached to the ends, which protrude from the tips of the patient's toes. If those pins are struck by an object or against an object, the pain can be severe as the pins are inserted in the patient's foot. In addition, the pins may be bent by the impact, thereby generating additional pain and inhibiting the healing process.
Aside from the physical issues, there may also be mental, emotional, and economic concerns. Patients in recovery trying to engage in normal activities must always be vigilant of injury, which can cause stress and anxiety. Physicians and surgeons often worry that their patients may suffer further injury during recovery despite their best efforts, which could cost additional time and money.
The prior art relates to post-surgical protective coverings, such as toe protectors. These toe protectors are in the form of a shoe or boot or are placed inside of a shoe or boot but are not used in conjunction with or attached to a foot cast. Such prior art devices are often complicated and cumbersome with multiple parts.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a hollow structure that covers a portion of the foot that includes the toes. The post-surgical foot protector is generally in the form of a cap or cap-like structure. The post-surgical foot protector has a generally rectangular box shape. The post-surgical foot protector can have rounded or curved or convex sides and/or corners and/or edges to maximize the protective space and ability to absorb and/or deflect impact forces. The post-surgical foot protector comprises a covering for the front portion of the foot that would encase and protect the front, top, sides, and bottom of the toes. The post-surgical foot protector could have openings therein for ventilation or breathability. The post-surgical foot protector may comprise plastic that is relatively flexible to allow the protector to fit on feet or casts of different sizes, though in accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the plastic could be relatively hard or rigid to maximize strength and protection against impact forces. The post-surgical foot protector has an open end sized to fit around a foot and cast on the foot. In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the post-surgical foot protector could have a length of about 4-6 inches, a width of about 4-5 inches, and a height of about 2-3 inches. However, virtually any sizes or dimensions could be possible within the scope of this application that are suitable for various patients having various foot sizes. The post-surgical foot protector could be manufactured in a number of predetermined sizes or could possibly be customized for each patient.
To use the post-surgical foot protector, a physician, medical personnel, or patient can position the post-surgical foot protector atop or over the front area of a cast to cover the toes. The post-surgical foot protector then could be secured in place using medical tape or similar adhesive or attachment structure or material. The post-surgical foot protector remains in place during day-to-day activities, such as walking, sitting, and sleeping, to provide protection to the toes. The post-surgical foot protector can be removed and re-attached as needed for cleaning or re-positioning, which process could be done by a medical professional or possibly the patient or other person.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
In order to secure the post-surgical foot protector 10 in place, a securing structure 24 is used to removably attach or connect the post-surgical foot protector 10 to the cast 23. In the embodiment shown in
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
