Graduated Compression Garment With Adjustable Bands
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current compression garments for treating circulatory disorders such as lymphedema and venous diseases often fail to provide a proper fit, as they are either too cumbersome to accommodate varying limb sizes or require time-consuming measurement and production processes, leading to potential improper fits due to changes in limb profile during the waiting period.
Innovation Solution
A one-size-fits-all compression garment with a body portion that can be easily tailored by cutting and adjusting to match individual limb dimensions, featuring adjustable bands that can be positioned and angled for a contoured fit, allowing for quick and easy application and adjustment by therapists or users.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If ready-to-wear standard size compression garments are used, then inventory management is simplified, but the garment cannot provide a proper fit for all patients
Solution Approach 1:
The compression garment is divided into a body portion and multiple separate bands that can be independently positioned and attached at different locations. This segmentation allows the garment to be customized for different patient sizes and limb profiles while maintaining a standardized base design, resolving the contradiction between inventory simplicity and fit adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The bands are designed to be adjustable and repositionable on the body portion, allowing dynamic adaptation to different limb circumferences and shapes. This dynamic configuration enables a single standardized garment design to serve multiple patient sizes, eliminating the need for extensive inventory while maintaining proper fit.
2Manufacturing precision
If custom made-to-measure garments are produced, then the garment can match the patient's limb profile, but the process is time consuming and limb profile may change during production
Solution Approach 1:
The body portion is pre-manufactured with standardized dimensions and features, while the bands are designed to be easily attached at various positions. This preliminary preparation of components allows rapid customization at the point of care without requiring lengthy production cycles, ensuring the limb profile is captured at the time of fitting rather than during extended production.
Solution Approach 2:
By separating the garment into a standardized body portion and adjustable bands, the system eliminates the need for complete custom manufacturing. Only the band positioning and selection need to be customized, which can be done quickly at the point of care, avoiding the time loss associated with full custom production while maintaining precise limb profile matching.
3Adaptability or versatility
If bands are trimmed-to-fit from the largest size, then the garment can accommodate different sizes, but the process is slow and requires complex angle calculations
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of trimming bands down from a largest size, the system provides bands in multiple predetermined sizes that can be selected and attached directly. This inverted approach eliminates time-consuming trimming and angle calculations while maintaining the ability to accommodate different sizes, significantly improving fitting productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The garment uses multiple separate bands that can be independently selected and attached, rather than requiring modification of a single continuous band. This segmentation allows therapists to quickly select appropriate band sizes and positions without complex measurements or trimming, speeding up the fitting process while maintaining size adaptability.
4Adaptability or versatility
If bandaging is used, then one inventory set can treat 100% of the population, but the application is very time consuming and does not provide reliable compression levels
Solution Approach 1:
The compression bands are pre-manufactured with consistent dimensions and compression properties, eliminating the need for time-consuming application techniques required by traditional bandaging. The standardized components can be quickly attached to provide reliable, consistent compression levels across all patients, maintaining universal applicability while dramatically reducing application time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the complex mechanical technique of traditional bandaging with a simpler attachment system using pre-formed bands and fasteners. This substitution maintains the ability to treat all patient types while reducing application time and ensuring consistent compression levels through standardized band construction rather than operator-dependent techniques.
Data Source
AI summary
A compression garment, having: (a) a body portion dimensioned to be wrapped around a body limb, the body portion having a top edge, a bottom edge and a pair of opposite side edges; and (b) a plurality of bands, wherein the bands are each attachable onto the body portion at a plurality of different locations, and wherein the bands wrap around part of the body portion when the body portion is wrapped around the body limb to apply compression force to the body limb.