Grip Suit

Abstract

This grip suit, designed as a caregiver's aid, is made to facilitate cooperation between the care recipient and the caregiver by preventing any uncomfortable forces from being applied, thereby making it easier for the caregiver to assist the care recipient. [Solution] A grip suit (S) having a back plate (10) made of a rigid material that does not easily deform, a waist belt (20) connected to the back plate (10), a left shoulder belt (30) connected to the back plate (10), and a right shoulder belt (40) connected to the back plate (10), wherein a mounting base (27) protruding in the direction of the back is provided on the back plate (10), and a rod-shaped grip (28) made of a rigid material that does not easily deform is attached to this mounting base (27). The grip (28) is provided parallel to the shoulder width direction of the wearer of the grip suit (S).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a grip suit worn by a care worker who provides assistance.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, in care facilities, hospitals, and the like, it is necessary to assist the movement of care recipients or persons requiring nursing care who are unable to move on their own. The most common case is assistance for moving from a bed to a wheelchair, or vice versa. In the present invention, the term "person requiring assistance" is described as including "person requiring nursing care". Similarly, the term "care worker" shall also include "nursing caregiver".

[0003] When moving a person requiring assistance from a bed to a wheelchair, the care worker holds the person requiring assistance in their arms, or two care workers respectively support both sides of the person requiring assistance to move them. When assisting a person requiring assistance in this way, the care worker needs to hold some part of the person requiring assistance's body and apply force. However, if a care worker grabs the person requiring assistance with strong force, the person requiring assistance may complain of pain, so careful handling is required. Accordingly, it has been proposed to attach an auxiliary belt to the person requiring assistance, and by holding a grip portion provided on this auxiliary belt, assistance can be provided with strong force without imposing a burden on the person requiring assistance (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0004] However, the auxiliary belt needs to be attached to the person requiring assistance, and there has been a problem that the work of attaching and detaching this auxiliary belt is troublesome.

[0005] Accordingly, a care aid to be worn by a care worker has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

[0006] This care aid is worn on the torso of a care worker in a vest shape, and a plurality of handles are provided on the back portion of the care worker. The person requiring assistance grips any of the handles to shorten the distance between the care worker and the person requiring assistance, making movement assistance easier to perform.

Prior Art Documents

[0007] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-281962 [Patent Document 2] Utility Model Registration No. 3207382 Gazette [Overview of the Initiative] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0008] However, when a caregiver using assistive devices moves a person requiring assistance to a wheelchair or similar device, the person requiring assistance hangs onto the caregiver, causing the caregiver to bear the entire weight of the person requiring assistance with their upper body, which can place a considerable strain on the caregiver's lower back.

[0009] In particular, when the person requiring assistance reached around the caregiver's side and grasped the handle on the caregiver's back, the person requiring assistance tended to hang, and the pulling force applied by the caregiver seemed to be greater. On the other hand, when the person requiring assistance grasped the handle on the caregiver's back over the caregiver's shoulder, the person requiring assistance's center of gravity was higher, and a portion of the person requiring assistance's weight acted on the caregiver's trunk, resulting in a reduced pulling force applied by the caregiver.

[0010] However, when the person requiring assistance was in a position to grasp the handle on the caregiver's back over the caregiver's shoulder, the person requiring assistance's elbow tended to be extended, which could cause pain in the elbow and make them more likely to let go of the handle.

[0011] The present invention provides a grip suit that facilitates cooperation between the person requiring assistance and the caregiver, thereby making it easier for the caregiver to assist the person requiring assistance, by preventing any force that the person requiring assistance finds uncomfortable from being applied. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] The grip suit of the present invention is a grip suit having a back plate made of a rigid material that does not easily deform, a waist belt connected to the back plate, a left shoulder belt connected to the back plate, and a right shoulder belt connected to the back plate, wherein the back plate is provided with a mounting base that protrudes toward the back, and a rod-shaped grip made of a rigid material that does not easily deform is attached to this mounting base.

[0013] Furthermore, the grip suit of the present invention also has the following features: (1) The grip should be positioned parallel to the wearer's shoulder width. (2) The mounting base shall be designed to allow for the replacement of grips with different shapes. (3) The back plate is a vertically elongated plate that extends along the wearer's spine and is branched into two below the wearer's waist to form an inverted Y shape. (4) The waist belt has elastic grips on both sides of the wearer's waist. (5) Replace the rod-shaped grip with an arc-shaped grip. [Effects of the Invention]

[0014] In the grip suit of the present invention, a mounting base protruding in the rear direction is provided on a back plate made of a rigid material that does not easily deform, and a rod-shaped grip made of a rigid material that does not easily deform is attached to this mounting base. This makes it easier for the person requiring assistance to grasp the grip with relatively little force, and also makes it easier for the person requiring assistance to grasp the grip with their arm wrapped around over the caregiver's shoulder. At this time, the person requiring assistance's elbow is slightly bent, and the elbow reaches the back of the person requiring assistance, which prevents the person requiring assistance from experiencing elbow pain. Moreover, when a caregiver wearing the grip suit assists the person requiring assistance in standing up, the caregiver's shoulder is in a position to support the person requiring assistance's side, allowing the caregiver's torso to bear part of the person requiring assistance's weight, and enabling the person requiring assistance to be moved with little force. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0015] [Figure 1] They are (a) a front view, (b) a right side view, and (c) a rear view of an assistant wearing the grip suit of the present embodiment. [Figure 2] They are (a) a front view and (b) a left side view of the rear plate of the grip suit of the present embodiment. [Figure 3] It is an explanatory view for illustrating the usage state of the grip suit of the present embodiment. [Mode for Carrying Out the Invention]

[0016] As shown in Figure 1, the grip suit S of the present invention is used by being worn by an assistant 100, and is used by being worn on the torso of the assistant 100 like a vest.

[0017] The grip suit S is composed of a rear plate 10 arranged along the spine of the assistant 100 who is the wearer, a waist belt 20 wrapped around the waist portion of the assistant 100, a left shoulder belt 30 wrapped around the left shoulder portion by passing the left arm of the assistant 100 therethrough, and a right shoulder belt 40 wrapped around the right shoulder portion by passing the right arm of the assistant 100 therethrough.

[0018] In the present embodiment, the rear plate 10 is made of carbon fiber which is a hard material that does not easily deform, and is formed as a vertically long plate extending along the spine of the assistant 100 who is the wearer. In particular, as shown in Figure 2(b), the rear plate 10 is curved in an S shape along the curved shape of the spine of the assistant 100 who is the wearer. As described above, the rear plate 10 has a curved shape that follows the spine of the assistant 100, so that the load generated by the person requiring assistance can be received by the entire back.

[0019] Further, as shown in Figure 1(c) and Figure 2(a), the back plate 10 is bifurcated below the waist portion of the wearer to provide a lower left piece 11 and a lower right piece 12, forming an inverted Y shape as a whole. As shown in Figure 1(c), the lower left piece 11 is arranged along the left buttock of the caregiver 100, and the lower right piece 12 is arranged along the right buttock of the caregiver 100, so that the caregiver 100 can receive the load from the care recipient using not only the back but also the buttocks, the load distribution effect can be enhanced, and the back plate 10 is prevented from shifting from the back of the caregiver 100.

[0020] It is desirable to prepare a plurality of types of back plates 10 with different sizes according to the height of the caregiver 100 who uses it.

[0021] As shown in Figure 2(a), the back plate 10 is provided with a lower left opening 11h for connecting one end of the left waist belt 21 on the lower left piece 11, and a lower right opening 12h for connecting one end of the right waist belt 22 on the lower right piece 12. As shown in Figure 1(a), the left waist belt 21 and the right waist belt 22 are connected to each other via a waist buckle 23 at the lower abdomen portion of the caregiver 100 to form the waist belt 20. Although not shown, at least one of the left waist belt 21 and the right waist belt 22 is provided with an adjuster for length adjustment.

[0022] As shown in Figure 1(c), a cushioning sheet 24 made of a cushion material is provided between the back plate 10 and the caregiver 100. This cushioning sheet 24 prevents the back plate 10 from digging into the back of the caregiver 100, and also prevents the back plate 10 from being displaced. In addition, the ventilation property of the back of the caregiver 100 is also considered.

[0023] Furthermore, the cushioning sheet 24 is provided with strips 24a extending to the left and right at its lower end, forming an inverted T-shape, and the strips 24a can be wrapped around the waist of the caregiver 100. By positioning the strips 24a between the left waist belt 21 and the right waist belt 22 and the caregiver 100, the waist belts 20 are prevented from digging into the caregiver 100, and the positional displacement of the waist belts 20 is prevented.

[0024] As shown in Figure 1, the cushioning sheet 24 has a left hip grip 25 made of an elastic material such as cloth on the left hip portion of the caregiver 100, and a right hip grip 26 made of an elastic material such as cloth on the right hip portion of the caregiver 100. The person requiring assistance can support their body by grasping the left hip grip 25 or the right hip grip 26 as needed. For example, when the person requiring assistance is sitting on the floor, grasping the left hip grip 25 or the right hip grip 26 makes it easier to stand up.

[0025] As shown in Figure 2(a), the upper end of the back plate 10 is provided with an upper end opening 13h for passing the connecting belt 51, which will be described later, through, and below this upper end opening 13h is a mounting opening 14h for attaching the mounting base 27 (see Figure 1(b)), which will be described later. Furthermore, below this mounting opening 14h, a left opening 15h is provided to connect one end of the left side belt 31 that constitutes the left shoulder belt 30, and a right opening 16h is provided to connect one end of the right side belt 41 that constitutes the right shoulder belt 40, arranged side by side.

[0026] The other end of the left side belt 31 is connected to one end of the connecting belt 51, and the other end of this connecting belt 51 is connected to the other end of the right side belt 41, so that the left side belt 31, the connecting belt, and the right side belt 41 are arranged in the order of a single shoulder belt. In other words, the left side belt 31 and the left portion of the connecting belt 51 constitute the left shoulder belt 30, and the right side belt 41 and the right portion of the connecting belt 51 constitute the right shoulder belt 40.

[0027] In this embodiment, the connecting belt 51 is attached to the back plate 10 by passing it through the upper end opening 13h of the back plate 10. The connecting belt 51 and the left side belt 31 are connected via a left adjuster for length adjustment (not shown), and the connecting belt 51 and the right side belt 41 are connected via a right adjuster for length adjustment (not shown).

[0028] As shown in Figure 1, the connecting belt 51 is equipped with a left shoulder rest 32 made of cushioning material on the left shoulder portion and a right shoulder rest 42 made of cushioning material on the right shoulder portion to prevent the connecting belt 51 from digging into the shoulder.

[0029] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 1(a), a left mounting belt 52 and a right mounting belt 53 are provided near both ends of the connecting belt 51, respectively, and these left mounting belt 52 and right mounting belt 53 are detachable via a chest buckle 54. The left mounting belt 52 and right mounting belt 53 connect the left shoulder belt 30 and the right shoulder belt 40 to each other, thereby preventing the upper end of the back plate 10 from shifting away from the position of the spine of the caregiver 100 who is wearing the device.

[0030] A suitable screw member is inserted into the mounting opening 14h provided in the back plate 10, and the columnar mounting base 27 is attached so that it protrudes toward the rear of the caregiver 100, as shown in Figure 1(b). Here, "rear direction" refers to the direction in which the back plate 10, which is aligned with the back of the caregiver 100, faces the side of the back plate 10 that is opposite to the side of the back plate 10 that is in contact with the caregiver 100.

[0031] A rod-shaped grip 28 made of a rigid material that does not easily deform is detachably attached to the tip of the mounting base 27. In this embodiment, the grip 28 is made of plastic, is rod-shaped with a diameter of about 30 mm, and is positioned parallel to the shoulder width of the caregiver 100 who is wearing the device. The grip 28 is attached to the mounting base 27 at its central part in the length direction. The grip 28 does not necessarily have to be in a straight line; as shown in Figure 1(c), it may have a slope that slopes downward as it moves away from the mounting base 27. Alternatively, if the person requiring assistance has a functional impairment in their hand or arm, the grip 28 may be made into a semi-circular shape, a circular shape, or any other appropriate shape that is easy for the person requiring assistance to grasp, and the grip 28 with the appropriate shape may be replaced and attached to the mounting base 27 for use.

[0032] As shown in Figure 3, when the caregiver 100 wearing the grip suit S configured in this way assists the person requiring assistance 200, it is desirable that the person requiring assistance 200 assumes a significantly bent-over posture so that the person requiring assistance 200 can easily grasp the grip 28.

[0033] Next, the person requiring assistance 200 grasps the grip 28 over the shoulder of the caregiver 100. At this time, the caregiver 100 confirms that the person requiring assistance 200's elbow reaches at least the caregiver 100's back. That is, the caregiver 100 lightly turns their head to confirm the position of the person requiring assistance 200's elbow.

[0034] When the elbows of the person requiring assistance (200) reach the back of the caregiver (100), the position of the person requiring assistance (200)'s shoulders will be higher than the position of the caregiver's (100) shoulders, making it easier for the caregiver's (100) to support part of the person requiring assistance's (200) weight with their torso.

[0035] In this position, the caregiver 100 can move the person requiring assistance 200 with minimal effort by supporting them as they move. At this time, the person requiring assistance 200 is in a position with their arms wrapped around the caregiver's shoulder and their elbows slightly bent, which reduces the likelihood of pain. Furthermore, their elbows are supported by the caregiver 100's shoulder, allowing them to maintain a stable posture and be supported by the caregiver 100 without having to grip the grip 28 tightly.

[0036] Therefore, the caregiver 100 can quickly move the person requiring assistance 200, and the burden on both the caregiver 100 and the person requiring assistance 200 can be greatly reduced. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0037] S Grip Suit 10. Back plate 11 Lower left piece 12 Lower right piece 11h Lower left opening 12h Lower right opening 13h Top opening 14h mounting opening 15h left opening 16h Right opening 20 Waist belt 21 Left hip belt 22 Right hip belt 23. Waist buckle 24 cushioning sheets 24a strip 25 Left hip grip 26 Right hip grip 27 Mounting base 28 Grip 30 Left shoulder strap 31 Left side belt 32 Left shoulder pad 40 Right shoulder strap 41 Right side belt 42 Right shoulder pad 51 Connecting belt 52 Left erection belt 53 Right-side erection belt 54. Chest buckle 100 caregivers 200 people requiring assistance

Claims

1. A back plate made of a rigid material that does not easily deform, A waist belt connected to the aforementioned back plate, The left shoulder strap connected to the aforementioned back plate, The right shoulder strap connected to the aforementioned back plate and In a grip suit having, A grip suit is provided on the back plate, with a mounting base protruding in the rearward direction, and a rod-shaped grip made of a rigid material that does not easily deform is attached to this mounting base.

2. The grip suit according to claim 1, wherein the grip is provided parallel to the wearer's shoulder width.

3. The grip suit according to claim 2, wherein the mounting base is made replaceable with grips of different shapes.

4. The grip suit according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the back plate is a vertically elongated plate that extends along the wearer's spine, and is bifurcated below the wearer's waist to form an inverted Y shape.

5. The grip suit according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the waist belt is provided with elastic grips on both sides of the wearer's waist.

6. The grip suit according to claim 1, wherein an arc-shaped grip is attached instead of the rod-shaped grip.

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