Man Design Co., Ltd.

Nitto Kohki Co., Ltd.

Tsuneo Hasegawa

Toshio Mikiya

Atsuki Hashimoto

Mitsuma Matsumura

A hand therapeutic appliance, including: a splint cloth with a portion for accommodating a palm with the fingers spread apart, and a portion for covering the underside surface of the carpal joint and forearm; retainers for releasably holding the five spread apart fingers; retainers for releasably securing the wrist and/or forearm to the forearm splint portion; a plurality of first generally delta-shaped pockets positioned between adjacent fingers; a pair of second pockets extending from the finger tips toward the forearm along substantially the full length of the splint cloth, the second pockets span the space between the thumb and the forefinger and the space between the ring finger and the middle finger, respectively; a pair of third generally delta-shaped pockets, one of the third pockets extending between the pair of second pockets from the finger tips toward the wrist to span the forefinger and the middle finger, and the other of the third pockets extending from the finger tips toward the wrist to span the ring finger and the little finger; a plurality of inflatable bladders, each accommodated within a first, second or third pocket; tubes for inflating and deflating the bladders; and darts provided at the pair of second pockets at locations corresponding generally to the wrist to facilitate bending of the second pockets back toward the palm side when the bladders within the pockets are inflated.

Therapeutic appliance for improving functions of hand fingers

A therapeutic appliance for improving the functions of an individual's carpal joints, hand and fingers includes a palm splint cloth shaped so as to accommodate a hand with its fingers spread apart. Finger retainer members are disposed on the front surface of the splint cloth for holding the fingers individually in their spread apart positions. A plurality of first bladders are disposed on the front surface of said palm splint cloth and positioned between each adjacent fingers except between the thumb and forefinger in a palmiped configuration for spreading the fingers apart form each other. A plurality of second bladders are disposed on the opposite surface of said palm splint cloth for extending the fingers, hand and the carpal joint and fluid supply and discharge tubes are connected to the first and second bladders for supplying and discharging fluid to and from the bladders. By supplying fluid simultaneously to all of the bladders or selectively to any selected one or more of the bladders through the tubes and discharging the fluid from the bladders through the tubes after a predetermined period of time which may be repeated, imparts extending and opening motions to the functionally incapacitated carpal joint, hand and fingers forcedly, rythmically and intermittently to thereby remedy the bending contracture and dysfunction in extending motion as well as to create a motive for triggering self-motivating capacity.

Web-like triangular sacs are disposed between the finger stalls of a glove-shaped body to fan the respective fingers by feeding compressed air into the sacs. A plurality of sacs are arranged on the palm portion of the body, each running from the relative stall toward and along an arm portion. When compressed air is fed into the latter-mentioned sacs, the hand and the carpal joint are extended. Charging or discharging of compressed air into or out of the sacs may be carried out simultaneously or selectively with a given cycle. By repetition of the cycle, rhythmical intermittent movement, such as fanning and extension, of the functionally disordered carpal joint, hand and fingers takes place passively for the remedy of flexion contraction and extension disturbance, and a primary factor which can induce active movement is produced.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Tsuneo Hasegawa