Elastic clothing

Abstract

To provide an elastic clothing capable of imparting a required wearing pressure, excellent in fitness to an attachment region, having high air permeability, easy to be gripped by fingers, and easy to be pulled up in the wearing direction.SOLUTION: Elastic clothing is formed of a knitted fabric 10 obtained by knitting a jersey knit structure 20 using an elastic yarn 21 for a ground, knitting a thread knit structure 30 using the elastic yarn 21 for a ground and an elastic yarn 31 for a thread which is thicker than the elastic yarn 21 for ground and has a relatively high Young's modulus, and alternately knitting these knit structures.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an elastic clothing formed from a knitted fabric containing elastic yarns.

Background Art

[0002] For the prevention of metastasis and the like in cancer surgery, lymph node resection is performed. When lymph nodes are resected, the flow of lymph fluid deteriorates and accumulates in the limbs, causing lymphedema. For the prevention and treatment of lymphedema, appropriate exercise, lymphatic drainage, compression therapy, lymphaticovenous anastomosis, etc. are effective. Among these, compression therapy using elastic stockings that apply a strong compressive force is convenient and easy to implement in daily life.

[0003] As such elastic stockings, Patent Document 1 discloses a medical stocking having a configuration in which the wearing pressures in the ankle region, lower leg region, and thigh region are gradually weakened. This improves the effect of improving the flow of lymph fluid in the leg, and by setting the ratio of the yarn lengths of the ground yarn and the inserted yarn (elastic yarn) to a predetermined relationship, measures are also taken to enhance breathability and moisture permeability.

[0004] Also, Patent Document 2 proposes a tubular bandage corresponding to the cross-sectional change of the bent portion of the wearing part of the human body for the treatment of lymphedema and venous reflux disorder. It measures the vertical cross-sectional dimension at a predetermined position of the human body and forms a tubular bandage with a corresponding cross-sectional dimension. Patent Documents 3 and 4 disclose sleeve-type and glove-type compression garments that can be worn not only on the lower limbs but also on the arms, hands, etc.

Prior Art Documents

Non-Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Patent Document 3

Patent Document 4

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] The medical stocking of Patent Document 1 is knitted in a circular knitting method, and elastic yarns are inserted by tacking them to the knitting structure made of the ground yarn. Since the elastic yarns inserted by tacking are not knitted into the knitting structure made of the ground yarn, their positions are not easily stabilized and have the drawback of being easily movable. If the positions of the elastic yarns are unstable, the applied pressure may not be exerted as designed.

[0007] The tubular bandage of Patent Document 2 forms a rib knitting structure in which the front stitches and the back stitches are alternately knitted with the base yarn, and for the elastic yarns, stitches to be knitted and stitches to be missed are repeatedly knitted. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 13 of Patent Document 2, the elastic yarns have no knitting relationship with the base yarn and are in a missed state from the beginning to the end with respect to the base yarn. When the rubber yarns are missed, the base yarn is in a reverse knitting. Therefore, as shown in the figures of the "state with an external force applied" in FIGS. 4 and 5 of Patent Document 2, the elastic yarns fly in a ladder shape in the lateral direction and have no knitting relationship with the base yarn. Therefore, when the elastic yarns contract in the lateral direction, the knitted fabric becomes considerably thick, and there is room for improvement in terms of stuffiness and breathability even during wearing. In addition, since it is a rib knitting, the unevenness of the elastic yarns does not easily appear on the surface. Furthermore, a plurality of outer convex portions and inner convex portions formed by the base yarn that continuously extends in the longitudinal direction of the tubular bandage are respectively formed in the circumferential direction. Therefore, the outer convex portions and the inner convex portions extend in the longitudinal direction. For example, when wearing on the leg and trying to insert from the toe and pull up in the thigh direction, the fingertips of the hand performing the operation are not easily caught and it is difficult to pull up. The higher the applied pressure, the more difficult it is to pull up. Among patients with lymphedema, women have weaker fingertip strength, and this is even more so in the case of elderly patients.

[0008] In addition, not limited to stocking types worn on the lower limbs as in Patent Documents 1 and 2, an elastic garment that can be applied to the prevention of lymphedema in the arms and hands as in Patent Documents 3 and 4 is desirable.

[0009] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an elastic garment that can apply a required wearing pressure, has excellent fitness to the wearing site, has high breathability, is easy to grip with fingers, can easily perform operations such as pulling up in the wearing direction, and is suitable for improving and preventing lymphedema and venous reflux disorder.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0010] In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, An elastic garment knitted using at least two types of elastic yarns with different stretchabilities, A plain knitted fabric knitted using ground elastic yarn, A thread knitted fabric knitted using a thread elastic yarn that is thicker and has a higher elongation elastic modulus than the ground elastic yarn and the ground elastic yarn, An elastic garment composed of a knitted fabric in which the above are alternately knitted. is provided.

[0011] It is preferable that the ground elastic yarn and the thread elastic yarn constituting the thread knitted fabric are alternately knitted one by one in the course direction in the positional relationship of knit and miss. In addition, it is preferable that the plain knitted fabric and the thread knitted fabric are alternately knitted in the wale direction.

[0012] Both the ground elastic yarn and the thread elastic yarn use polyurethane yarn as the core yarn. It is preferable that the thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the ground elastic yarn is 150 decitex or less, and the thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the thread elastic yarn is 550 decitex or more. It is more preferable that the thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the ground elastic yarn is in the range of 30 to 100 decitex, and the thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the thread elastic yarn is in the range of 1000 to 2500 decitex. It is preferable that the knitted fabric is knitted by only one of surface knitting or back knitting.

[0013] In addition, the elastic clothing of the present invention is suitable for improving or preventing lymphedema or venous reflux disorder.

Advantages of the Invention

[0014] The elastic clothing of the present invention knits a plain knitting structure with the ground elastic yarn, and uses this ground elastic yarn and a thread elastic yarn that is thicker than the ground elastic yarn and has a relatively high elongation elastic modulus to knit a thread knitting structure, and is composed of a knitted fabric in which these knitting structures are alternately knitted. Since the thread elastic yarn is thicker than the ground elastic yarn, in the thread knitting structure, the thread elastic yarn slightly protrudes in the thickness direction from the ground elastic yarn on one surface side. As a result, a slight step is generated between the knitted fabric of the thread knitting structure and the knitted fabric of the plain knitting structure, forming a bellows shape. Due to this step, when grasped with fingers, it is easier to catch on the fingers, making it easier to perform the pulling-up operation and eliminating the difficulties during wearing peculiar to elastic clothing. On the other hand, the thread elastic yarn is linked to the ground elastic yarn by knitting. Compared with the method of inserting the elastic yarn by tacking or inlaying, the arrangement of the thread elastic yarn is stable, and it is easier to exert an appropriate wearing pressure according to the design. And, since it has a bellows shape with a slight step as described above, it is easy to fit the wearing target part, and even at the joint part, it expands and contracts following the bending movement, and it is difficult for sagging and wrinkles to occur on the inner side in the bending direction. Since sagging and wrinkles are difficult to occur, the wearing pressure at that part is also appropriately exerted, and it is also possible to suppress the inhibition of the flow of lymph fluid and blood flow due to sagging and wrinkles.

[0015] In addition, as the ground elastic yarn, a thin yarn of a predetermined thickness or less is used to form a plain knitting structure, and preferably, it is knitted with only one of the front knitting or the back knitting, so that the air permeability is high.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0016]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0017] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 4 are diagrams for explaining an elastic stocking 1 as an elastic clothing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0018] The knitted fabric 10 constituting the elastic stocking 1 of the present embodiment is knitted using at least two types of elastic yarns having different stretchabilities. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, it is knitted using the ground elastic yarn 21 and the thread elastic yarn 31 that constitute the ground yarn.

[0019] The plain knitting structure 20 is knitted by weft knitting using the ground elastic yarn 21, and the thread knitting structure 30 is knitted by weft knitting using the ground elastic yarn 21 and the thread elastic yarn 31. The knitted fabric 10 of the present embodiment is configured by alternately knitting the plain knitting structure 20 and the thread knitting structure 30 in the wale direction.

[0020] Both the ground elastic yarn 21 and the thread elastic yarn 31 are preferably covering yarns, and as the core yarn, rubber yarn, polyurethane yarn, etc. can be used. In terms of the comparison of the stretch elastic modulus, the ground elastic yarn 21 is relatively low and the thread elastic yarn 31 is relatively high. When both use polyurethane yarn as the core yarn, the stretch elastic modulus is lower for the thinner one and higher for the thicker one.

[0021] When using polyurethane yarn as the core yarn in both cases, for the ground elastic yarn 21, it is preferable to use a polyurethane yarn with a thickness of 150 decitex or less, and for the thread elastic yarn 31, it is preferable to use a polyurethane yarn with a thickness of 550 decitex or more. The thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the ground elastic yarn 21 is more preferably in the range of 30 to 100 decitex, and even more preferably in the range of 40 to 80 decitex. The thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the thread elastic yarn 31 is more preferably in the range of 1000 to 2500 decitex, and even more preferably in the range of 1500 to 2300 decitex. When the thickness of the polyurethane yarn exceeds 2500 decitex, it becomes difficult to knit with a weft knitting machine.

[0022] Therefore, the relationship between the thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the ground elastic yarn 21 and the thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the thread elastic yarn 31 is in the range of 1:3.6 to 1:83.3 when the former is taken as 1. As a result, the ground elastic yarn 21 has a thickness of about 1 / 3 or less of the thread elastic yarn 31, and the openwork knitted fabric 20 knitted with the ground elastic yarn 21 is thin and high air permeability is ensured.

[0023] Fig. 4(a) is a view showing the stitches of the knitted fabric of the present embodiment, and Fig. 4(b) is a schematic view showing the stitches with symbols. As shown in these figures, the plain knitting structure 20 made of the ground elastic yarn 21 is knitted in the course direction, and in the next row in the wale direction, the thread knitting structure 30 made of the ground elastic yarn 21 and the thread elastic yarn 31 is knitted. Taking this knitting structure as one unit, it is composed of only one of the front knitting or the back knitting, and by repeating it in the wale direction, the plain knitting structure 20 and the thread knitting structure 30 are knitted alternately.

[0024] In the thread knitting structure 30, the thread elastic yarn 31 is knitted alternately one by one as "knit, miss, knit, miss..." in the course direction with respect to the ground elastic yarn 21. In the present embodiment, since the thread elastic yarn 31 is not a tack or an inlay but is knitted to the ground elastic yarn 21, the arrangement position of the thread elastic yarn 31 is stable and the movement during wearing is also suppressed.

[0025] Further, the elastic stocking 1 has a knee-corresponding knitted fabric 41 knitted three-dimensionally so as to protrude slightly forward at the front part of the knee joint, and a heel-corresponding knitted fabric 42 knitted three-dimensionally so as to protrude rearward at the outer side in the bending direction of the ankle joint. These parts are knitted together with the above-mentioned plain knitting structure 20 or thread knitting structure 30.

[0026] According to this embodiment, two types of elastic yarns with different thicknesses are used, namely, the ground elastic yarn 21 made of a polyurethane yarn that is relatively thin and has a low stretch elastic modulus, and the thread elastic yarn 31 made of a polyurethane yarn that is relatively thick and has a high stretch elastic modulus. The plain knitting structure 20 and the thread knitting structure 30 are alternately formed in the wale direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 4(b), since the thread elastic yarn 31 is knitted as "knit, miss, knit, miss..." in the course direction, on one side of the thread knitting structure 30, the thick thread elastic yarn 31 protrudes outward by its thickness. Since the thread elastic yarn 31 is arranged in the course direction, that is, in the circumferential direction of the elastic stocking 1, as shown in FIG. 3, on one side of the knitted fabric 10, a step is formed in the circumferential direction by a convex portion centered on the thread elastic yarn 31 and a concave portion near the plain knitting structure 20, so that it is like a bellows shape. Thus, when trying to wear the elastic stocking 1 of this embodiment, when the wearer inserts the foot from the toe, passes through the heel, and tries to grip and pull up the knitted fabric with the fingers to the calf and thigh, the fingers are likely to catch on the step formed so as to be substantially orthogonal to the pulling-up direction, and it is easier to wear compared to the elastic stockings of Patent Documents 1 and 2.

[0027] FIG. 1 is a perspective view with the outside being the step surface 10a where the step due to the concave and convex portions appears along the circumferential direction. However, when trying to wear in the form of FIG. 1, the index finger, middle finger, etc. other than the thumb are likely to catch on the step. For the step surface 10a, the inner surface thereof is a substantially flat surface (flat surface) 10b because the thread elastic yarn 31 does not protrude in the thickness direction. FIG. 2 is a perspective view with the step surface 10a where the concave and convex portions appear being inside and the flat surface 10b being outside, inverted from the state of FIG. 1. In this case, since the step surface 10a is located inside, the thumb is likely to catch on this step when trying to wear. Therefore, no matter which surface is the outside, the elastic stocking 1 of this embodiment facilitates the pulling-up operation during wearing. From this, it is possible to make either the step surface 10a or the flat surface 10b the outside, and by wearing it reversibly, it is also possible to enjoy the change in design.

[0028] However, when the stepped surface 10a is on the outside and the flat surface 10b is on the inside, the surface in contact with the skin is the flat surface 10b, so there is less discomfort during contact. Although skin symptoms such as cellulitis may appear due to lymphedema, in such cases, it is preferable to have the flatter surface 10b on the inside with less discomfort. On the other hand, when the stepped surface 10a is on the inside, the frictional contact with the skin increases, so the effect of suppressing slippage during wearing becomes higher. Therefore, when no major skin disease is present, it is also effective to wear with the stepped surface 10a on the inside to suppress slippage.

[0029] Also, since the stretch elastic modulus of the elastic thread 31 for the thread is high, during wearing, the ground elastic thread 21 that constitutes the openwork knitted fabric 20 stretches relatively more greatly than the elastic thread 31 for the thread. As a result, the gaps between the ground elastic threads 21 forming the openwork knitted fabric 20 tend to become larger in the wearing direction. Also, the fact that it is only one of the front knitting or the back knitting also promotes the ease of stretching within the range of the openwork knitted fabric 20. From these things, the elastic stocking 1 of the present embodiment exhibits high breathability.

[0030] On the other hand, within the range of the thread knitted fabric 30, the high contracting force of the elastic thread 31 for the thread with a high stretch elastic modulus acts, and moreover, since the elastic thread 31 for the thread is knitted by knitting, a predetermined contact pressure can be applied to a predetermined part of the human body in contact. Generally, for the contact pressure by the elastic thread, a higher contact pressure can be obtained when the elastic thread stretches linearly rather than deforming into a loop shape. In view of that point, conventionally, the elastic thread is often inserted by inlay or tack, but according to the present embodiment, the elastic thread 31 for the thread has the above-mentioned difference in terms of thickness compared to the ground elastic thread 21, and during wearing, the ground elastic thread 21 stretches preferentially compared to the elastic thread 31 for the thread, and the elastic thread 31 for the thread hardly changes into a loop shape even though it is knitted and changes almost linearly. Thereby, a predetermined contact pressure can be surely exhibited. In addition, due to the ease of stretching of the Indian weave structure 20 and the high elastic force of the thread weave structure 30, sagging and wrinkles are less likely to occur on the inner side of the bending parts such as the knee joint and the ankle joint, and the fit is improved. Therefore, it is also possible to suppress the inhibition of the flow of lymph fluid and blood flow due to sagging and wrinkles.

[0031] Since the elastic stocking 1 of this embodiment has such characteristics, even women and the elderly with weak finger strength can wear it more easily. In addition, since the breathability is also improved, sweating is suppressed, and it can be worn comfortably for a longer time, which is effective in improving lymphedema, venous reflux disorder, etc. Further, the ground elastic yarn 21 extends by a predetermined amount according to the thickness and length of the leg, but if it exceeds the predetermined amount, the thread elastic yarn 31 also extends. Therefore, since it has a very stretchable structure, it is less dependent on the thickness and length of the leg and can be made almost free size.

[0032] In this embodiment, the elastic stocking 1 is described as an example, but it is not limited thereto. Generally, stockings include those that reach above the knee with a welt part, a leg part, and a foot part, and are included in the concept of "socks". However, this embodiment can also be applied to other forms of "socks", that is, foot covers (products with only a foot part), socks (products that reach below the knee with a mouth rubber part, a leg part, and a foot part), tights (products with a panty part, a leg part, and a foot part), and further, those with a structure without a foot part such as leggings and spats.

[0033] In addition, the configuration of this embodiment is also applicable to a sleeve having a portion that covers at least one of the hand joint, elbow joint, and shoulder joint where lymphedema or the like is likely to occur, a glove having a portion that covers at least one of the hand joint and finger joints, or clothing such as a garment in which the sleeve and glove are integrally provided. Further, it is also applicable to a bodysuit or the like in which clothing worn on the lower body such as stockings and clothing worn on the upper body are integrated. Also in these cases, which of the stepped surface 10a and the flat surface 10b is to be on the outside can be determined in consideration of skin symptoms, ease of displacement, etc. For example, in the case of a sleeve worn from the arm to the armpit, since it is relatively likely to slip off, when no skin symptoms are present, it is preferable to wear it with the stepped surface 10a on the inside.

Explanation of Signs

[0034] 1 Elastic stocking 10 Knitted fabric 10a Stepped surface 10b Flat surface 20 Plain knitting structure 21 Elastic yarn for ground 30 Thread knitting structure 31 Elastic yarn for thread 41 Knitted fabric corresponding to the knee 42 Knitted fabric corresponding to the heel

Claims

1. An elastic garment knitted using at least two types of elastic yarns with different stretchabilities, a plain knit fabric knitted using ground elastic yarn, and a thread knit fabric knitted using the thread elastic yarn that is thicker and has a higher elongation elastic modulus than the ground elastic yarn and the ground elastic yarn, and is composed of a knitted fabric in which they are alternately knitted.

2. The ground elastic yarn and the thread elastic yarn constituting the thread knit fabric are alternately knitted one by one in the course direction in the positional relationship of knit and miss. The elastic garment according to Claim 1.

3. The plain knit fabric and the thread knit fabric are alternately knitted in the wale direction. The elastic garment according to Claim 1.

4. Both the ground elastic yarn and the thread elastic yarn use polyurethane yarn as the core yarn, the thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the ground elastic yarn is 150 decitex or less, and the thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the thread elastic yarn is 550 decitex or more. The elastic garment according to Claim 1.

5. The thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the ground elastic yarn is in the range of 30 to 100 decitex, and the thickness of the polyurethane yarn constituting the thread elastic yarn is in the range of 1000 to 2500 decitex. The elastic garment according to Claim 4.

6. The knitted fabric is knitted only on one side, either the front knitting or the back knitting. The elastic garment according to Claim 1.

7. It is for improving or preventing lymphedema or venous reflux disorder. The elastic garment according to Claim 1.

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