SUPPORT POUR LA NUQUE

POSTURE TRAINING NECK SUPPORT

Abrégé anglais

A B S T R A C T
This invention consists of a posture training and
therapeutic neck support consisting of an upper and lower
band made of plastic foam material which are spaced and joined
together by a plurality of spaced flexible plastic stays.
The support is provided with a centrally located upwardly exten-
ded hump and a corresponding opposite downwardly extended hump,
so that the upper hump supports the neck by making contact with
the lower part of the back of the head just above the top ter-
minal of the neck, while the lower hump and the bottom of the
support makes contact with the back of the body just below
the bottom terminal of the neck, and the shoulders. The sup-
port is wrapped around the neck and the ends are joined to-
gether by a "Velcro" Trade Mark type of tape. The ends of the
support fit comfortably at the front of the neck but do not
provide any support to the chin. For wear during sleeping hours,
a support is provided with the said humps removed; the bands are
replaced by a solid body of a thin foam plastic to the outer
face of which are cemented the stays; and in which holes are
cut for ventilation.

Revendications

The embodiments of the invention in which an
exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined
as follows,-
1. A posture training and therapeutic neck support
comprising an open structured collar of plastic material shaped
so that its upper part supports the bottom of the back of the
head just above the upper terminal of the neck; its bottom part
makes contact with the shoulders and rear of the body to pro-
vide support just below the bottom terminal of the neck; and
the front end of the collar is closed at the rear of the chin.
2. A posture training neck support comprising a top
narrow band of plastic foam or similar material having a cen-
trally located upward hump therein; a similar bottom band
having a central downward hump therein; said top and bottom
bands being spaced and joined together by a plurality of partly
flexible plastic stays which are symmetrically spaced about
the center of said bands; a rectangular pad of plastic foam
material at each end of said support, which joins the spaced
ends of the top and bottom bands; means for connecting and dis-
connecting the ends of the support when it is wrapped around
the neck of the person wearing it; the total width of the sup-
port being such that the upper hump makes contact with the
lower part of the back of the head just above the upper ter-
minal of the neck, and the lower hump makes contact with the
back and shoulders just below the bottom terminal of the neck;
and the ends of the support are just wide enough to fit com-
fortably at the front of the neck without providing support to,
or interfering with the free movement of the chin.
3. A support such as described in Claim 2 in which the
upper and lower bands are made of folded plastic foam material,
and in which the ends of said stays are inserted into said
folds and cemented therein.
4. A support such as described in Claim 2 in which the

means for connecting and disconnecting the ends of said support
consists of a pair of "Velcro" Trade Mark type tapes attached
to one end of the support and a corresponding "Velcro" Trade Mark
pad attached to the other end of said support.

Description

~i737~ :
S P E C I F I C A T I 0 N
This invention relates generally to neck supports "~
used in the therapeutic treatment where such supports are :
prescribed. :.
Conventional neck supports used at the present time ~` -
are notorious for the discomfort they cause to the persons who
are wearing them Primaril~ the discomfort is caused b~ ~uch
~upports being heavy~ unven~ilated, subject to soiling, and -.
generally being poorly fitted.
It is therefore one of the primary ob~ect~ of this
10 invention to provide a neck support which considerably reduces :
: discom~ort by be1ng light in weight~ by being almost fully
ventila-ted~ easily washable1 and which allows itself to be
; easily fitted to the indiv~dual who is going to wear it. ~ :
Another important object of thi~ invention is to
~ 15 provide the ~ollowlng advantages from a medical standpoint,-
i 1. More protection of upper and lower neck joint.
q 2. Preventsiback movement of all neck joints. `: :
.~ 3. Avoids pressure on circulation of nerve to arms
.. . .
(thoracic outlet), through curving of design over the shoulder,
l 20 4 Avoids mu~cle weakne~s. 30~o o~ neck movament6 are
.~ allowed and, therefore, muscle atrength ls rstained. :.
5 Avoids dependency or habituation. Becau~e the chin
free, the ussr learns to avoid bending th~ neck or moving
t~ it into the painful range o~ ~ide or back ~ovements. This
encourages maintaining good neck po~ure and makes it easy to
r3
di~card the collar.
In describing tha invention reference will be made ~ .
to the attached drawings in which, ~`
~3 Figure 1 is a ~ront view of the invention, :
~ 3~ Figurs 2 is an end view o~ the lnvention with ~ome : :
.~ o~ the component~ omltted for clarity, :~.
.~ .

37~
Figure 3 shows a detail o~ the invention,
~igure 4 shows a rear view o~ the ;nvention, as
it is being worn,
Figura 5 shows a side view of Figure 4, and
Figure 6 shows a ~ariation in the invention.
In the drawings, the neck support is shown consisting
of an upper band 1 and a lower band 2, which are mor~ or less
identical~ but opposite. The band 1 has an upward, centrally
located hump 3, while the band 2 has a corresponding downward
hump 4. ~he two bands are spaced but joined together at the
narrowed-down ends 5, and 6, by means of a plastic foam rec-
tangular pad 7 and 8, respectively. The bands 1 and 2, are
`~ pre~erably made o~ a folded strip o~ foam material~ such as,
~!1 for example, polyurethane foam material. The pads 7 and 8 are
also made of that material, but somewhat thicker.
The bands 1 and 2 are also joined together by a pair
~ o~ spaced, centrally located stays 9,9, which are made o~ a
?~! ~solid but flexible plastic material, and which are connected
to the said bands by having their ends inserted and cemented
into~ the fold of said bands, as shown in Figure 3. A pair o~
similar but sho~e~intermediate stays 10,10, join the bands
1 and 2, in the manner described abo~e, and are located at the
ends of the hump 3 and 4. Still another pair o~ end stays
1: :
11, made o~ the same plastic material as the stays 9 and 10,
join the bands 1 and 2, and are l~cated immediately behind the
pads 7 and 8.
Attached to one of the end stays 11 are a pair of
tapes 12,12, of the "Velcro" Trade Mark type which adhere to ' ~-
;,~ their companion"~01¢rol'T~M.padl3,1Ocated on the ~ace o~ the
3 other end stay 11.
- In Figures 4 and 5, is shown the manner in which the
neck support is worn, The support i8 wrapped around the neck,
with the ~a~d humps in the rear of the head. The support i~
.~ :
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''' 'B :.

held in position by the -tapes 12 which are hooked onto the
pad 13.
The extended upper and lower hump design o~ the
invention provides additional support to the lower part o~
the back o~ the head D and to the back o~ the body9 a short
distance below the shoulders. This provides protection to the
upper and lower neck jointæ, and limits the bending of neck
and head to a greater degree than the ~reedom of movement al-
lowed by ~oonv~ntional supports or braces, as can be seen in
Figure 4 and 5. This also provides a greater degree o~ relief
and at ~he same -time is more effective therapeutically. Further-
more, the band and stay design o~ the sup~ort prQYides greater
com~ort to the wearer because of its open construction which
reduces the total weight of the support to a minimum, and al-
lows ventilation, coolness, and dryness to the neck.
Thiæ support, is designed primarily ~or wear duringdaytime, because~ of the greater amount of activlty during that
period of the day. H~wever, because o~ the added head and necX
movement restri~tion, some persons may find it uncomfortable
~or wear during the sleeping hours. Thi~ situation is remedied
by providing a aompanion support, for the above inven~ion, as
shown in Figure 6.
~i In this case, the main body 14 of the support consist
of a plastic foam materialJ the same as but thicker than that
25 used ln band6 1 and 2~ The upper and lower humps have bean ~;
~ eliminated to make thi~ ~upport narrower than the one in
'3~: Figure 1, in order to make it more com~ortabla during the
sleeping period. This, o~ ~ourse~ reduces the restriction to
the movement of the head and neok~ however, the therapeutic
value of the support i8 thereb~ not reduced to the fact that
such movement is practically nil ~uring the greater part o~
sl~ep.
To provide a degree o~ 8ti~fnes8 to -thi~ suppo~t~
3,'
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two spaced, central stays 15,1~; two intermediate stays 16,16;
and two end stays 17,17, are cemented to the outside of the
main body 14. All these stays are of the same type as the
stays 9,9; they cover the greater part o~ the width of the
body 14, but Pall short of reaching the top and bottom edges
of said ma;n bodyg so that the said stays do not come in direct
contact with the head or neck. Holes 18 are provided in the
bodyl4, between the various stays for ventillation purposes.
To one end stay are attached a pair of "Velcro" Trade Mark
tapes 19,19, which engage and adhere to a "Velcro" Trade Mark
pad 20 attached to the face of the other end stay, for holding
the support when wrapped around the neck.
; It can also be seen from the above description of
the two supports that they can be manufactured at a very low
cost, thereby making them available to a greater number of users.
It is important to note that the invention was de-
signed to discourage as much as possible backward movement of
the neck and head, by causing theneck to bend as a whole
rather than in the middle. However, the rigidity of the support
has been greatly reduced by the absence of chin control, which
is considered insignificant in the treatment of most cases~
Furthermore, this in~ention is greatly superlor to the
permanent rigidity type of support used at the present time~ in
that it provides controlled rigidity which can be increased when
so required, and which can be reduced as the wearer progresses
towards recovery, simply by changing the number or thickness of
the stays. This gradual reduction of rigidity is extremely be-
neficial to the wearer, because it eliminates the reaction to
the sudden change from wearing the support to discarding it,
3 and it provides greater comfort to the wearer as he is recovering
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