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Proprioception enhancement system

Proprioception enhancement system description/claims

This application is a continuation-in-part of and claims the benefit of Pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/405,137, filed Apr. 17, 2006, which claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/705,103, filed Aug. 8, 2005.

The disclosed subject matter relates to athletic equipment. More specifically it relates to equipment that improves proprioception, the unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself.

Many devices have been developed to repair the loss of proprioception in medical patients. These devices are designed for rehabilitation of injuries, rather than prehabilitation and enhancement. These devices generally comprise a strap or straps and place pressure on the injured joint. These devices are meant to be worn as part of a program of physical therapy and not meant to be worn by healthy persons. These devices are also not meant to be worn during an athletic activity or athletic competition.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,086,551 and 5,957,873 are examples of proprioception therapy devices. The '551 patent is a compression suit used for proprioception therapy. The '873 patent is a compression vest used for proprioception therapy. Both use all-over pressure to heal lost proprioception, rather than focused tension on certain parts of certain muscles to improve healthy proprioception.

Patent application publication no. 2005/0193461 discloses a device that uses elastic to improve athletic performance. The '461 application discloses wrapping muscle groups, especially on the legs, in strips of elastic for the purpose of capturing lost energy from the muscles and returning the energy to the limb to increase the power of the next movement of the limb. The device of the '461 application does not improve proprioception and does not place the elastic on a specific part of the muscles in the muscle groups. Rather, the elastic is relatively evenly distributed over the muscles.

The subject matter of the present application improves proprioception. The use of sets of bands, strategically placed and tensioned, can improve the wearer's proprioceptive abilities. The system disclosed herein allows the body to be more aware of the position of the limbs. It is a prehabilitative and enhancement device. The system improves athletic performance by improving proprioception of the wearer.

The present system makes the wearer aware of the position of the limbs relative to the torso. This is achieved by applying pressure to the skin and/or by applying various visual devices. The pressure on the skin stimulates tactile sensors in the skin that then make the brain aware of the position of that part of the body. The system works by using accented compression, which is the manipulation of fabric at different tensions to enhance human muscle movement and to address muscle oscillation.

The disclosed subject matter includes a proprioception system embodied various ways. For example, the prorprioception system can be embodied in an article of clothing, i.e., a vest, a shirt, a sleeve, a band, shorts, pants or a belt. When worm, the article of clothing is in intimate contact with a user's body and includes a first fabric that has a first elasticity and a second fabric that has a second elasticity. The second fabric is in contact with at least one of the user's muscle groups and includes a means for enhancing the user's awareness of a contraction of that muscle group.

The means for enhancing the user's awareness of the muscle group is generally made of a plurality of ribs. However, the means are not limited to a plurality of ribs and can include any material capable of sustaining pressure against a person's body. The fabrics can be, for example, nylon, lyrcra or any other elastic fabric. A third fabric, having its own elasticity, can be placed over the second fabric to provide greater elasticity or to add firmness to the fabric. Adding the third fabric to provide firmness can be done so that the firmness is applied in a particular direction. Though the third fabric has its own elasticity, the elasticity of the third fabric can be equal in value to the second elasticity.

A further embodiment of the present subject matter is an article of clothing for strengthening a muscle group. The article of clothing includes a positive fabric that has a first elasticity and a negative fabric that has a second elasticity. Each of the positive and negative fabrics can be, for example, nylon, lyrcra or any other elastic fabric and the article of clothing can be a vest, a shirt, a sleeve, a band, shorts, pants, a jumpsuit, a belt, shorts or any other article capable of being worn by a person. This system can have any distribution of elastic material within any article of clothing. The clothing can have more than one length of elastic material sown therein. The lengths of elastic material could be placed in any orientation relative to the length of the article of clothing.

The positive and negative fabrics are configured in the clothing article in a way that the positive fabric creates a positive force on at least one muscle group of the person wearing the clothing article and the negative fabric creates a negative force on that same muscle group. The positive and negative fabrics are further configured on the article of clothing in a way such that the positive force is applied to the muscle group in a direction opposite that of the negative force.

An additional elastic fabric can be placed layered over the positive fabric or the negative fabric. Alternatively, two additional elastic fabrics can be placed over both the positive and negative fabrics. In some embodiments, the positive and negative forces are equal in magnitude; in other embodiments the positive and negative forces are unequal in magnitude.

A yet further embodiment of the present inventive system is an exercise confirmation system. The exercise confirmation system includes an article of clothing that has a first colored fabric section. The first fabric section includes a saccadic optical targeting device. The saccadic optical targeting device is a color other than that of the first colored fabric and is located on the clothing article to be perceptible only upon proper execution of an exercise. For example, if the clothing article is a glove, a body suit, a shirt, pants, socks, and a hat, the saccadic optical targeting device can be located on an arm of a shirt, a pants leg or the brim of a hat. The type of exercise to be confirmed can be a throwing or kicking motion.

The exercise confirmation system includes a band having a tension-creating device therein. The band is placed around a muscle group. Only one band is needed for each muscle group; however, the system will function with more than one band. The tension-creating device optionally includes at least two rings of elastic. The use of up to twenty rings of elastic as the tension-creating device is possible, but other versions could use more. Other versions could use one elastic ring, or more than twenty elastic rings or any other number of rings therebetween. The band could be placed over the belly of the bicep when the band is used with the upper arm. The belly of a muscle is the widest part of the muscle. Other versions could place the tension-creating device in other locations of each arm other than the belly of the muscle. For example, other versions could have the tension-creating device run parallel to the length of the body or arm.

The tension-creating device creates tension that improves the proprioception of the user. The tension creates a light pressure on the skin of the user. This pressure is enough to be noticeable, yet light enough to avoid contraction of blood vessels or causing muscle fatigue. In some embodiments, the band is attached to an article of clothing. In the preferred embodiment, the tension-creating device has a diameter that is one to two inches less than the muscle group it is being fitted around. Thus a 15-inch diameter upper arm would use a band that has a 13- to 14-inch diameter, with a 13- to 14-inch diameter tension-creating device. The preferred embodiment of the tension-creating device has a tension such that a 13-to 14-inch piece of elastic would be stretched to 15-inches.

The width of the band can be any size. The preferred embodiment envisions bands with a width between 0.5 inches and 6 inches. Other versions could be more narrow than 0.5 an inch. Still other versions could be wider than 6 inches.

This tension-creating device is envisioned to be a strip of elastic material. The tension-creating device could also be a ridge of material that projects within the band. Other versions use a rib as the tension-creating device. Still other versions could use a non-elastic piece of material that can be tightened. This piece of material could be tightened by being pulled and secured by a toggle or fastener. Any manner of fastener could be used, including, but not limited to, buttons, ties, snaps, clips, cord locks, statistical fasteners, hook and loop fasteners or adhesives.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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