Pressure Bandage And A Method For Producing The Pressure Bandage

Abstract

A pressure bandage whereby heat is directly transmitted to the body and the therapeutic effect is substantially improved by applying a heatable bandage under pull and pressure to the part of the body to be treated. To this end the heatable pressure bandage is elastically extensible and has self-adhering closures enabling proper application of the bandage to parts of different size of a body.

Description

This invention relates to a pressure bandage and method using this pressure bandage for heat treatment of a human or animal body, said pressure bandage having a heating conductor sealed between rubber sheets.

Heating pads of this type for heat treatment of parts of a body are known. Such pads are moisture-proof but they are only suitable for being loosely applied onto the part of the body to be treated. Experiments have shown, however, that heating pads loosely applied onto the part of the body have a number of disadvantages and are of limited therapeutical efficiency. It was found that the temperature is much lower where the pads contact the body than where there is an isolating air cushion between the heating pad and the body. Therefore, local overheating may occur and the therapeutical effect is bad or the treatment with the heating pad may even be injurious to health.

The above disadvantages of prior heating pads loosely applicable onto parts of the body may be avoided if a heatable bandage according to this invention is used, which is elastically extensible in all directions and may be applied around parts of a body under appropriate pull, whereby the bandage is pressed against the body with a substantially uniformly distributed pressure over the full heated area of the bandage. A heatable bandage of this type should fullfill a number of important conditions, this being only possible when the bandage has a number of technical features as explained hereafter and as claimed. As mentioned above, the bandage should be elastically extensible in all directions to an appreciable extent without damage to the imbedded conductor system. Further, the bandage needs easily engageable and disengageable closures allowing interconnection of the bandage ends with any desired length of the bandage within a determined range in order that the bandage may be applied to parts of a body of different size and shape with appropriate pull and pressure. The bandage according to this invention broadly comprises a heating conductor wound along a helical line onto an elastically extensible core and adapted to produce the required heat when connected to a low-voltage source, said heating conductor being enclosed and sealed between elastically extensible sheets, a cable for connection of said heating conductor to said source, connections between ends of said heating conductor and the conductors of said cable being enclosed in pressure proof and inextensible capsules, and self-adhering closures at opposite ends of said bandage allowing closure of said bandage with any length of the same when applied around a part of a body under appropriate pull and elastic elongation whereby said bandage is uniformly applied against the surface of the body at a desired pressure.

This invention also relates to a method for producing a bandage as set out above, wherein said heating conductor is cemented in the desired disposition to the inner side of a first vulcanized rubber sheet, whereafter a second vulcanized rubber sheet is cemented to the first rubber sheet and heating conductor respectively.

The invention also encompasses a novel and most efficient method for heat treatment of parts of a human or animal body, comprising providing a heatable elastically extensible bandage having self-adhering closures at its ends, applying said bandage to the part of the body to be treated with appropriate tension and elastical elongation of the bandage in order that the bandage is uniformly applied against the body at an appropriate pressure, and connecting said heatable bandage to a low voltage source for applying heat from said bandage to said body.

This invention will now be explained in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein

FIG. 1 is a top view of an embodiment of the pressure bandage,

FIG. 2 is a section along line II--II in FIG. 1 on a somewhat larger scale,

FIG. 3 shows a length of the heating conductor on a substantially enlarged scale,

FIG. 4 is a top view of a connecting capusle with the cover thereof removed,

FIG. 5 is a section of the connecting capsule of FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 shows a gauge used for production of a pressure bandage as shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 7 is a section of the gauge of FIG. 6,

FIG. 8 shows the same gauge with a heating conductor applied thereto when laid onto a rubber sheet of the bandage to be produced,

FIG. 9 shows the pressure bandage in longitudinal section and

FIG. 10 shows a top view of another embodiment of the pressure bandage.

The heatable pressure bandage illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 has two prevulcanized rubber sheets 1 and 2 cemented to each other in sealing, moisture-proof condition. In the middle portion of the bandage a heating conductor 3 trained in a zig-zag or accordion fashion is imbedded between rubber sheets 1 and 2, the ends of said heating conductor being soldered to the blank ends of conductors 5 of a cable 6 within rigid connecting capsules 4. The inlet for the cable 6 is reinforced by a rubber sheet 7. The tongues at the ends of the bandage are covered with pads of easily engageable and disengageable closures, for instance hook closures 8 and 9 engageable in any desired relative position, one of such pads being provided at the upper and the other of such pads being provided at the lower side of the bandage.

In order to obtain sufficient elastic extensibility of the heating conductor, the same is a highly flexible copper litz 10 wound onto a rubber core 11 along a helical line and so braided with a plait 12 of elastic insulating yarn enclosing said core 11 that the litz wires 10 cross the yarns of plait 12 in places. In this way the litz wires 10 are secured against relative shifting on the core 11. The whole structure shown in detail in FIG. 3 is highly extensible and also compressible such that the heating-conductor system may always adapt its shape to the shape of the bandage without any dangerous stresses acting between the rubber sheets 1 and 2 and the heating conductor respectively.

Experience has shown that it is of particular importance that the connecting places between the heating conductor and the conductors 5 of cable 6 are never subjected to pull or any other stresses. To this end such connections are accommodated in rigid capsules. An embodiment of such a capsule is shown in detail in FIGS. 4 and 5. The cup-shaped capsule body 4 has two notches in its wall portion, the heating conductor 3 with core 11 and the conductors 5 surrounded by a suitable insulating sleeve being led in through such cuttings. The blank conductor ends are twisted and soldered together within the capsule, the connection being thus entirely free of any stresses. The conductor portions led through said notches are clamped between the capsule body 4 and a capsule cover 14 riveted or cemented to the capsule body. The rivet 15 is surrounded by a collar 16 of the capsule body 4 such that direct contact between the blank conductors and the metallic rivet is prevented.

The following values have found to be satisfactory for a practical embodiment of the heatable pressure bandage:

The prevulcanized rubber sheets preferably have a thickness of 1 mm each, an extensibility of 600 percent and a strength or hardness of not more than 35 shore. The extensibility of the heating-conductor system is 80 percent. This results in a bandage which may be applied to parts of the body which are usually treated with heat with a uniformly distributed pressure in the order of 0.05 kg/cm.sup.2. The heating conductor of the bandage is connected by means of cable 6 to a power source having a regulating transformer of which the highest output voltage is 48 volts. The heating conductor is so designed that a maximum heating power of 0.042 W/cm.sup.2 is obtained for the maximum voltage of 48 volts. With this heating power overheating and burning cannot possibly occur and the surface temperature of the body usually rises to about 40.degree. C. If heating to a lower temperature is desired the output voltage of the power source may be reduced whereby continuous adjustment or adjustment in small steps is possible. If heating to higher temperatures is desired, this is only possible if heat losses from the outer surface of the bandage are prevented by covering the bandage with isolating coverings or the like. The distance between parallel straight portions of the heating conductor may be selected from 2 to 3 mm, while the diameter of the heating conductor system with the core 11 and the plait covering it may be in the order of 1 to 1.5 mm. A distance of 3 mm between parallel portions of the heating conductor with a thickness of the rubber sheets of 1 mm is optimal.

For producing the bandage a gauge as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 is used. This gauge has a flat carrier 17 of transparent insulating material such as "Plexiglass". Tubular pins such as rivets 18 are slidably mounted in rows of bores, but they cannot fall out of the bores due to a radial flange at one end and tapered portion at the other end thereof.

For applying the conductor to the gauge, the latter is laid onto a flat surface, for instance a table, as shown in FIG. 7, whereby the pins 18 are moved upwardly with the tapered end spaced from the upper surface of the gauge carrier. With the gauge in this position the heating conductor may now easily be applied thereto whereby the heating conductor system is fixed near its one end to one of the pins 18 and is then applied round the pins in accordion fashion with appropriate pull and under slight elastic extension. The heating conductor system is then fixed to a pin 18 near its other end. After application of the heating conductor to the gauge or prior to this operation the blank ends of the heating conductor are soldered to the conductors 5 of the cable 6 and are inserted into the capsules 4. When the heating conductor is fully applied to gauge 17, and the capsules 4 are closed, the gauge is turned upside down and is laid onto the upper surface of rubber sheet 1 provided with a binding agent. When touching the rubber sheet the pins 18 are pushed upwardly until the heating conductor now contacts the binding agent or cement applied to sheet 1 and is slightly compressed between the carrier of the gauge and rubber sheet 1. The heating conductor may now be connected to a suitable electric source in order to heat the binding agent at least near the heating conductor and thereby to accleerate hardening of this agent. When the heating conductor sufficiently adheres to the rubber sheet 1 the gauge 17 is removed whereby the heating conductor may easily slide off the tapered end portions of rivets 18. The upper rubber sheet 2 is now applied as shown in FIG. 9 and is cemented to the lower rubber plate in a suitable press not shown. At the same time or afterwards the pads 8 and 9 of the closure are applied. The use of a gauge 17 of transparent material is advantageous in that it may always be checked whether the heating conductor is applied to the rubber sheet 1 in proper disposition and the gauge with the heating conductor may again be lifted off for rearrangement of the heating conductor thereon if necessary.

The pressure bandage shown by way of example in FIG. 10 corresponds to the same of FIGS. 1 to 5 in structure, but has a different shape. Any other shape is feasible. Corresponding parts are designated with the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1. In the bandage of FIG. 10, which is bigger than the one shown in FIG. 1, a number of pads 8 and 9 respectively of the closure are shown, such pads 8 and 9 being so disposed that the bandage ends may be connected to each other in any desired position within a determined range, the length of the closed bandage being thus continuously variable. Pads 8 of the closure are within the area covered by the heating conductor 3, while the other pads 9 are disposed outside the area covered by the heating conductor 3 and on the other side of the bandage. Therefore, the bandage may always be closed in a manner that no pads of the closure are between the heating conductor and the body to be treated. The uniform distribution of the heating effect is thus not affected by the closing pads 8 and 9.

Practical therapeutic experiments show that the heat of a pressure bandage closely contacting the body properly enters into the body. Therefore, the effect of the pressure bandage described above when used in accordance with this invention is different and more efficient than heat treatment with prior heating pads adapted for being loosely applied to the body. The bandage which is absolutely water-proof may be disinfected or washed after each use.

The heat directly transmitted from the flexible bandage onto and into the body is particularly suitable for treatment of all pains favorably responding to heat. In case of dorsal vertebra arthrosis the bandage encloses the body like a mantle or a broad elastic belt with intensive heating, whereby the patient feels safe and relaxed. A favorable influence was also found with so called degenerative diseases such as arthrosis, spondylitis and muscle rheumatism, periarthritis humeroscapularis and neuralgy. Further, the bandage may be used for muscle relaxation, unswelling of tissue, secondary influencing of the neurovegetative system in the sense of an alteration and normalization of disturbed reactions. Treatment of diseases of the kidney and of the bladder are also possible. Forehead-bandages for treatment of sinusitis or head-bandages for producing a hyperemia in the head skin against alopecia may also advantageously be used. The method according to this invention is further applicable for antifat treatment by acceleration of the fat nutrition.

Claims

What we claim is:

1. A therapeutic bandage comprising a pair of planar sheets defining a bandage body, a heating element including electric conductor means sealed between said sheets, a supply cable including electric conductors and having one end disposed between said sheets, the ends of said conductor means and said conductors being electrically connected, releasable fastening means on opposed edge portions of said bandage body for cooperatively securing said bandage in operative position, said sheets and heating element being elastically extensible, and pressure proof and inextensible capsules adhered between said sheets and enclosing said electric connections between said conductor means and conductors to relieve said connections of any stress, whereby said bandage and heating element may be stretched over a portion of a body and securely retained in position by said fastening means to preclude air spaces therebetween and uniformly apply pressure and heat to the covered body area.

2. A bandage according to claim 1, wherein said elastically extensible heating element comprises an elongated cable-like member and is cemented with and between said sheets which comprise prevulcanized rubber.

3. A bandage according to claim 2, wherein said heating element comprises an elastically extensible core a flexible copper litz braided along a helical line around said core with a plait of elastic insulating yarn enclosing said extensible core.

4. A bandage according to claim 3, wherein the ends of said cable and the ends of said heating element are surrounded by an insulating sleeve and clamped where led though the walls of said capsules.

5. A bandage according to claim 4, wherein said conductors of the cable and connecting ends of said core and heating conductor respectively are clamped between cuttings of the wall of a capsule body and a capsule cover fixed to the capsule body.

6. A bandage according to claim 1, wherein said heating conductor is disposed along a zig-zag line with parallel straight portions of the conductor at a distance of 1.5 to 3.5 mm from each other.

7. A bandage according to claim 1, wherein said heating conductor is connected to a low-voltage source designed for a maximum heating power of 0.043 W/cm.sup.2.

8. A bandage according to claim 1, wherein said fastening means comprises pads of self-adhering closure means disposed at opposite sides of said elastically extensible sheets and at least at one end of said bandage outside the area covered by the heating conductor.

9. A method for producing a pressure bandage for heat treatment of parts of a human or animal body and comprising an elastically extensible heating element enclosed and sealed between elastically extensible sheets, wherein said heating element is cemented in the desired disposition to the inner side of a first vulcanized rubber sheet, whereafter a second vulcanized rubber sheet is cemented to the first rubber sheet and to said heating element respectively.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein said heating conductor is first applied in zig-zag configuration around pins inserted into a flat gauge wherein said pins are shiftable in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the gauge but are secured against removal from the gauge, whereafter a cement is applied to the one surface of one of said rubber sheets and the gauge is applied against this surface with the heating conductor engaging said surface and cement applied thereto respectively, whereafter said gauge is removed as soon as the cement has sufficiently hardened for binding said heating conductor to said sheet, whereafter said second rubber sheet is applied to the surface of said one rubber sheet carrying the heating conductor.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein hardening of the cement is accelerated by connection of the heating conductor to an electric source for heating it.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein said gauge comprises a flat carrier of transparent insulating material.

13. A bandage according to claim 1, wherein the elasticity of said sheets enables application substantially throughout the area thereof against the portion of the body under treatment at a pressure in the order of 0.05 Kg/cm.sup.2.

14. A bandage according to claim 1, wherein said bandage has a heating capacity of not more than 0.042 W/cm.sup.2.