Protective Cast Cover

Abstract

The Protective Cast Cover is a cover you wear over your cast. It is made of fabric, any kind of fabric, waterproof, warm, breathable, what ever kind of fabric will work for an individual's needs. For arms it covers the whole arm with a mitten hand over the top of the shoulder. Some of them are shirts, just depends on what the individual request. The cover for legs covers the foot to the top of thigh and can be made as pants, or as shorts on the opposite side of the leg with the cast. If they are in double casts, then both sides would be made the same. This works for arms or legs. Again, just depends on what the individual request. The protective cast cover is meant to keep sand, or debris or even water out of the cast, and give people less stress about their situation.

Description

The protective cast cover is a soft, comfortable, washable, and can be waterproof depending on the fabric used cover for over a cast. It is one continues piece. Its purpose is to keep sand, debris, and water out of a cast. For an arm it has a mitten hand and continues all the way up over the top of the shoulder. There is elastic, an exceptionally soft elastic sewn into the top of the shoulder so that it fits snug around the shoulder. There is a soft elastic strap that crosses from the top of the shoulder across chest and back to under the opposite arm. This is all to hold it in place and not worry about it slipping down. Fits under any shirt without worry. This style can be made to be adjustable. Custom fit is always better, but to make it adjustable, you need to have an opening in the shoulder part that the elastic can come through and have Velcro on the end and also Velcro on the fabric part so that you can pull it to fit snug. It will also have to have the strap that goes around torso a strap that is there for the elastic to pull through and Velcro down the elastic to attach it to itself once it is pulled to the right fit. Also, will have a thin strap sewn at the wrist location with 3 snaps so that if it is a little long you can pull the strap to the right snap to make it the right length. This will be on both sides of wrist. The other versions for arm cast are shirt like. So it still has the mitten hand and goes all the way up to your shoulder as one solid piece, then continues around as a mock turtle neck that has thin velcro that connects the mock turtleneck around your neck and across the top of your shoulder. This will bring the rest of the bigger shirt pieces around your front and back where it will fit snug around armpit and velcro under arm down to waistband. The waistband will also have elastic inside to keep it pulled snug to your waste. It can also have a zipper under where the velcro down the side of the shirt body. Another way is to have the elastic in the top of the shirt cross the body from top of shoulder to under opposite arm and then velcro from under arm to waist band and could also have a zipper under the velcro. It will also have the elastic in the waistband. You can also make it a short sleeve version where the velcro from the neck continues down the top side of shoulder and to bottom of short sleeve. Elastic is in the bottom part of the sleeve, and velcro and possible zipper under velcro will still go from under arm to waistband. The waistband will still have elastic in it as well.

The leg cast cover is the same concept, to keep out sand, debris, and water. It will be one continuous piece of fabric that goes over the foot to the top of the thigh. There will be elastic around the top of thigh to keep it snug, and a strap of elastic from the front and back of the top going upwards towards the elastic belt. The elastic upward straps are attached to the elastic belt part that goes around the waste. This can also be made adjustable by adding snaps to the elastic belt part and the straps that are vertical. And the thigh elastic would need an opening to be able to be pulled and have velcro attached so that it can be pulled to correct fit. This cover can fit under shorts, and underwear. If you do not want to have to pull it down to use the restroom you wear it under your under garments and do not need to move it to use the restroom. If you wear it over your undergarments, then it is easy to pull the elastic waistband and straps down to use the restroom. Leg covers can also be made as a pair of shorts for on the leg without the cast. So full leg covers up to waist and around to hip all as one piece of fabric and it will velcro down the outside from waist to around the leg opening. Leg opening and waist band will both have elastic inside. This same concept is used to make them as a pair of pants. The pants are also used to keep warm by using a fleece or sweat pant material. This way when people need pants while having a broken leg and it is cold, they can actually wear pants. Really all the covers can be made from any material for any occasion. But will only be waterproof when using the waterproof fabric.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS

FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 of the drawings Is the adjustable leg cover. It has a soft elastic waist band with vertical elastic going from the waistband to the top of thigh fabric on both the front and the back of the leg. There is soft elastic in the top of the fabric around the thigh that is also adjustable. The leg cover is one piece of fabric that goes from top of thigh all the way down and around the foot. It can be made of any fabric that the someone would like to have including waterproof. The adjustable parts of this can be done by velcro, snaps, or buttons. Can be worn under undergarments to make using the restroom quite easy. Or it can be over undergarments and can be pulled up and down easily.

FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 of the drawings is the custom fit pants cast cover. It also has soft elastic waistband and elastic around the ankle of the un-broken foot. There is a zipper and/or strong velcro all the way down the leg of the un-broken pant leg. The other pant leg is a solid piece that goes from waist all the way down over the foot. Can be made of any material including waterproof.

FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 of the drawings is the custom fit cast cover. It has the soft elastic waistband, with the same soft elastic vertical to the top of the thigh, which also has soft elastic to keep it snug around the thigh. Then it is the one solid piece down the leg and around the foot. This to can also be made of any fabric including waterproof.

FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 of the drawings is a custom fit shirt cast cover. It has a mock turtleneck that is soft elastic and velcro from the side of the neck down the shoulder of the un-broken arm to the bottom of the shortsleeve that also has elastic to keep the snug fit. It also has elastic around the waistband to keep the snug fit, and zipper and/or velcro from waistband to just under the arm pit. The other arm is a solid piece with a mitten hand. This can be made of any material including waterproof.

FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a custom fit shirt cast cover with no sleeve, it stops on the shoulder. It can have a regular neck or a mock turtleneck with elastic around it either way. Also, the velcro from the neck to the top of the shoulder. Also, soft elastic around the waistband to keep the snug fit. There is velcro and/or a zipper from waistband up to just under the arm pit. The other arm is one solid piece with a mitten hand. This can be made of any fabric including waterproof.

FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 of the drawings is a custom fit no sleeve shirt cast cover. It has a soft elastic that goes from the top of the shoulder of the broken room to under the other arm. It has velcro and/or zipper from the waistband to the underarm elastic. The waistband has the soft elastic for the snug fit. The sleeve on the broken arm is one solid sleeve with a mitten hand. This can be made of any material including waterproof.

FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 of the drawings is the original version of the cast cover in custom fit form. It is a solid sleeve with a mitten hand that goes all the way up the top of the shoulder with soft elastic at the top to keep it snug around the arm. It then has soft elastic that goes from the top of the sleeve across the torso to the under arm of the other arm so that it cannot slip off or down. This can be made of any fabric including waterproof.

FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 of the drawings is the original cast cover design only made adjustable. The soft elastic around the should is adjustable. The elastic that goes from shoulder across the body and under the other arm is also adjustable. The sleeve also has an elastic strap with snaps or buttons that can shorten the sleeve. It has a mitten hand. This can be made of any fabric including waterproof.

FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 of the drawings is the custom fit leg cast cover with shorts as the other leg. There is soft elastic around the waist and around the thigh of the shorts leg side. There is velcro and/or zipper from the bottom of the short to the waistband. The other leg is the full leg all the way down to covering the foot. This can be made of any fabric including waterproof.

Claims

1. I created the protective cast cover for my son Dominic when he was 12 years old and had fell on a bolder while outside playing tag. He had a bad compound break where his arm broke in 3 places and even punctured his skin. This was Feb. 20, 2019. He had emergency surgery, they had to put a rod in each bone, it took 4 incisions, and a full arm cast. The orthopedic Dr. told us he can not be in the sand or at a beach at all. He would get sand in his cast that could cause an infection and that would be really bad. Of course, we had a spring break trip planned to the beach for mid-March to meet up with my Mom and Sister. On Mar. 17, 2019 I took fabric and elastic pinned it around his arm and in one night I made the original cast cover. He said it was so comfortable he could sleep in it. My son spent everyday on the beach, and it was windy while we were there. When we got back to Tucson and had his Dr. appointment, they cut off his cast. I asked the technician if there was anything in his cast. He said no just dry skin and that is normal. When the orthopedic Dr. came in, I asked him the same thing. He said no it is all just dry skin. This is when I could hardly contain myself. I asked the Dr. if he remembered that I mentioned us taking our spring break trip to the beach. I asked him what he would say if I told him Dominic spent everyday on the beach. He just looked at me. I told him that is exactly what happened and showed him the cover I made for his arm. He did not say a whole lot until he left the room, and then he told his staff about it and that they needed to ask me to see it. From then I told them I was working on getting a patent and to make it waterproof as well. Now I have. This creation could help so many people that have an unfortunate accident feel like they can do things they like to do without worrying about the risk of infection, or ruining their cast, or being cold because they can't wear pants as normal. This creation can protect people from getting sand and other debris in their cast and with the waterproof one be able to get caught in the rain, or walk in the ocean with out stress or worry.