Anatomical head and neck restraining sleep aid and related products and methods

Abstract

The invention provides head and neck support sleep aid devices and methods for securely restraining the head of fatigued and sleeping travelers seated in a constrained, upright position, to prevent involuntary forward or lateral head flexion. The devices and methods of the invention employ a rigid elongate lever member adapted to be interposed between a user's back and an upright seat surface and head bracing means connected to the lever member to restrain the user's head against forward and lateral flexion.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The invention relates to products and methods for stabilizing the head and neck of a human subject to maintain the head in a static upright position at rest. More specifically, the invention relates to sleep aids for firmly but comfortably restraining the head and neck of a seated subject in a relaxed upright position to facilitate sleep, for example during extended commercial travel.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Travelers and commuters are forced to sit in a confined upright position for long periods, making it difficult to rest or sleep. Thus restrained, sleep is typically prevented or compromised due to the passenger's inability to relax the musculature of the neck and head. Anyone who has tried to sleep on an airplane, bus or train understands this problem, where at the point of falling asleep the neck musculature relaxes and the head flops forward or lolls sideways. This results in an abortive sleep experience that is fitful, uncomfortable, unrestful, an...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a travel sleep aid device that includes a rigid elongate lever member that can be positioned between the back of a person's seat and the seatbieck surface to prevent flexion of the person's head while sleeping. The lever member has stiffening elements incorporated within it to increase its rigidity and resistance against frontal flexion. The stiffening design optimizes anatomical load distribution and allows for efficient storage and shipping of multiple lever members. The invention also provides methods for effectively restraining the head of a sleeping person to minimize involuntary flexion of the head.

Problems solved by technology

Travelers and commuters are forced to sit in a confined upright position for long periods, making it difficult to rest or sleep.

This results in an abortive sleep experience that is fitful, uncomfortable, unrestful, and in some cases even injurious, with the additional drawback that involuntary head movements can encroach on the personal space and comfort of neighboring passengers.

For an individual seated upright, this can allow the head to inadvertently fall forward or sideways, causing discomfort and disrupting restful sleep.

Off-vertical axial separation between the head's center of gravity and the center of head flexion dictates an imbalance of forces caused by gravity, which operate to pitch the head forward (ventrally) when the active restraint of neck flexor muscles (holding the head in an upright position by pulling the base of the skull backward, or dorsally) is absent.

The individual may react unconsciously by jerking the head back erect, which can cause discomfort or embarrassment and may even result in injury for individuals with orthopedic complications.

If sleep continues with the head ventrally and / or laterally flexed without support, this too can result in prolonged discomfort, breathing impairment or injury.

These devices provide only limited restraint against involuntary, lateral head flexion, and essentially no restraint against ventral head flexion.

A common deficiency of collar-style head and neck supports is their open collar design, which provides no frontal section to resist forward head flexion.

Indeed, collar designs generally preclude a frontal support structure, because the wearer's mandible would tend to compress that segment of the collar against the user's trachea resulting in airway restriction during sleep.

The strap design is complicated and intrusive to deploy, and is suited to a limited range of seat types.

Yet the key drawback to this device is, again, that its frontal opening provides little or no resistance to downward gravitational forces that drive downward-forward head flexion during sleep.

For reasons that will become apparent from the description which follows, the support device of Miller presents fundamental deficiencies in design, operation, ease of use, comfort, and performance, evidently meeting with practical and commercial failure precedent to abandonment of Miller's '545 patent long before its expiration.

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