GB2188241A - Disposable elastic bandage - Google Patents

Abstract

A disposable elastic bandage (1) comprises a layer (2) of a pliable, air- permeable and essentially non-elastic material as well as elastic members (3) affixed to said layer in a prestretched condition, the elastic bandage thereby presenting pleated sections (4) between said elastic members. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Disposable elastic bandage For fixing non-stick wound dressings, drain tubing or the like, there have been used up to now elastic bandages in the form of strips made of a material in which the elasticity is uniformly distributed over the whole area. Examples of such materials are woven bands with elastic warp threads. These prior art bandages are not specifically adapted for the attachment of dressings but could be employed in other contexts as well, e.g. for giving support to the body portion.

Owing to the high manufacturing costs associated therewith, conventional elastic bandages are primarily intended for multiple use. Despite this fact, a large number of such elastic bandages are being descarded after one single use. The main reason for this is the necessity of cleaning the bandages carefully before re-use, which in addition to being costly and elaborous is practically impossible when dealing with heavily soiled, e.g. blood-stained bandages. Within surgury, elastic bandages are being utilized for certain types of incisions where a dressing is to be affixed over the operation site. For this reason there are placed especially high demands on cleanliness, excluding the use of other than completely new bandaging material. The bandages are generally packed under sterilization and discarded after use.

The overconsumption of material when using the prior art elastic bandages is another cost-increasing factor. These bandages are delivered in rolls, each roll having a bandage length of approximately four meters. Due to the tendency of woven bandages to fray when cut in pieces while also losing their elasticity at least in the region close to the cutting edge, there are often used for each bandaging sequence a whole four-meter length of material where instead a shorter piece would have sufficed.

When binding a surgical wound there is often required an elastic bandage corresponding in length to one and a half four-meter roll. The remaining two meter length of bandage is cut off and discarded unused.

Elastic bandages are primarily employed for affixing non-stick wound dressings. It is thereby essential for the bandage to remain fixed in position during use without being allowed to move aside or to fit loosely causing thereby dislocation of the underlying dressing. For parts of the body that are difficult to bandage such as knee-joints or hands where optimum mobility must be maintained, effective bandaging is nearly impossible to accomplish. The reason is that prior art bandages are designed to have a supporting function for which purpose they are made elastic all over.

Stretching of a certain portion of the bandage caused by the user's movements, for example, will also affect the surrounding bandage portions. Thus, different portions of an elastic prior art bandage cannot be stretched independently of one another, which makes application of such bandages extremely difficult over irregular surfaces and joints Furthermore, the bandages tend to glide upon movements of the body thereby causing the bandage as well as the underlying dressing to eventually slip off. In order to counteract the tendency to glide while simultaneously maintaining optimum mobility, bandages for e.g. knees and ankles are often wound in the form of figure-eight slings, one of the loops thereof being positioned on either side of the joint.There are required with this bandaging technique, however, long strips of the expensive elastic bandage, and the object is therefore to accomplish an elastic bandage suitable for holding dressings fixed in position without the need of being applied in such a material-consuming manner.

In order to provide secure attachment with the aid of a conventional bandage, the bandage must be stretched to a relatively large extent during application and with numerous turns of winding around the body portion to be bandaged. It is however difficult to obtain a sufficient degree of tension without simultaneously pressing and squeezing the underlying body tissues thereby making the bandage unpleasant to wear. As may unfortunately but not rarely be the case, the attachment bandage can be stretched so far that the local blood supply is inhibited to a substantial degree in the bandaged body portion, which is of cause not very convenient for the user or very recommendable from a medical point of view.

Afurther problem associated with conventional bandages is their tendency during use to seal so tightly to the underlying skin that practically no air is allowed to circulate around the skin surface. As a result, exuded perspiration will be prevented from evaporating from the skin covered with the bandage. Therefore, the prior art bandages are experienced as awfully hot and tight. Moreover, the skin is liable to loosen up by the residual moisture, increasing thereby its susceptibility to infections and external influences.

With the present invention there has been achieved a disposable elastic bandage particularly well adapted to hold dressings in place and with which the disadvantages associated with conventional bandages with regard to said capability have been overcome. An elastic attachment bandage according to the invention is primarily distinguished in that it comprises a layer of a pliable, air-permeable and essentially nonelastic material to which layer are affixed prestretched elastic members, the elastic bandage thereby presenting pleated sections between the elastic members.

An attachment bandage according to the invention will be described in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a piece of an elastic attachment bandage according to the invention as seen from the side facing away from the user of the bandage, and Fig. 2 shows the elastic attachment bandage of Fig. 1 as applied around a knee-joint.

The elastic attachment bandage 1 illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises a layer 2 of a breathable, soft, pliable fiber fabric having elastic ribbons 3 affixed thereto. The elastic ribbons 3 are secured to the fiber fabric in a prestretched condition, the finished bandage thereby presenting longitudinal, substantially inelastic pleated sections 4 made of fiber fabric and arranged between the elastic ribbons 3.

The pleated sections 4 and the air-permeable material in the layer 2 together contribute to maintaining good air ventilation in the area covered with an attachment bandage performed in accordance with the invention. In this manner no exuded perspiration is collected on the skin but will instead evaporate therethrough, leaving the bandage cool and pleasant to wear. Furthermore, the material in the pleated sections 4 does not lie in sealing contact with the skin pressing or squeezing it, which naturally contributes to making a bandage made according to the invention pleasant to use.

The attachment bandage 1 is to be applied with the elastic ribbons 3 facing away from the skin of the user. When combined with the soft and pliable surface of the layer 2, there is thus no longer the risk of the bandage chafing or irritating sensitive skin.

With the attachment bandage lit is possible to achieve rapidly and simply, with only a few turns of winding, well-functioning attachments of dressings even across joints and other body portions which are traditionally difficult to bandage. This has been fulfilled by making the elastic ribbons 3 having their points of attachment to the layer 2 mutually spaced, allowing thereby said ribbons to be stretched independently of one another. Moreover, the pleated sections 4 provide additional freedom of movement which is a most advantageous feature if, for example, the attachment bandage 1 as shown in Fig. 2 is applied over a knee. When the bandaged kneejoint is bent, the pleated sections 4 of the attachment bandage 1 are straightened out over the knee-cap 5.The remaining portion of the bandage is not affected or displaced thereby but will remain fixed in position together with the underlying dressings even when the user is moving.

The pleated sections 4 thus render the attachment bandage 1 flexible and readily applicable over irregular body portions without the need of overstretching the bandage 1 to secure a fixed position thereof around the body portion bandaged.

This is a result of the extra space available when straightening out the pleated sections 4 which is useful for accommodating protruding parts of the body. The attachment bandage 1 is further conformed to the configuration of the bandaged body portion without appreciably affecting the adjacent portions of the elastic ribbons 3 or the rest of the bandage.

The layer 2 should be made of a material selected with due regard to softness, pliability and air permeability, which material should also be capable of resisting tensile stress in its transverse as well as in its longitudinal direction without rupturing.

For producing the inventive attachment bandages, so-called spun-bonded fiber fabrics have been found particularly well-suited; the term spunbonded defining a process wherein endless fibers are laid out to form a fabric-like layer, followed by the fusion of these fibers into a structural pattern.

These types of fiber fabric provide a high tensile strength without any tendency to shed, which is a particularly important factor when utilizing the bandages for surgical dressings where optimal care must be taken to prevent foreign matter such as fibrous particles and dust from entering an operation wound, which could lead to inflammatory reactions and deteriorated healing.

There is however no absolute requisite to use fiber fabrics as a material for the layer 2. A soft and pliable perforated plastic layer could serve the same purpose just as well.

Due to the elastic ribbons 3 being affixed along their entire extension to the layer 2, there is obtained an attachment bandage which is separable across the elastic ribbons without losing its elasticity even in the region closest to the cutting edge. By using smooth elastic ribbons as shown in the example of Figs. 1 and 2, made of polyurethane for example, the risk of the attachment bandage chafing the user's skin is minimized.

A significant feature of the present invention is the considerable cost-saving effect afforded by the use of the inventive attachment bandages, despite their purpose of serving as disposable items to be discarded after one single use. On the one hand, this saving is made possible by the much lower production costs of the inventive attachment bandage depending on the simpler manufacturing method and the cheaper raw material connected therewith. On the other hand, the waste of material is eliminated when handling this bandage. By being both longitudinally and transversely separable without fraying, shedding or losing its elasticity, the bandage can be cut in lengths adjusted to the specific requirement in each actual case instead of, as is customary with prior art elastic bandages, being reduced to using a predetermined delivery length.

A disposable attachment bandage according to the invention is suitably delivered in rolls from which can be cut or sheared individual lengths as needed.

The example described in the foregoing relates to only one of a number of conceivable embodiments and does not restrict the scope of the invention.

Instead, it merely serves to elucidate the inventive concept. For example, the elastic ribbons 3 can be replaced with other types of elastic members such as covered elastic threads or the like. Furthermore, the elastic members can of course be arranged in patterns other than that shown such as, for example, a diamond pattern.

Claims (10)

1. A disposable elastic bandage, characterized in that it comprises a layer made of a pliable, airpermeable, essentially non-elastic material and elastic members secured to said layer and being applied in a prestretched condition, the elastic bandage thereby presenting pleated sections between said elastic members.

2. An elastic bandage according to Claim 1, characterized in that the layers made of a pliable, air-permeable and essentially non-elastic material a fiber fabric layer.

3. An elastic bandage according to Claim 2, characterized in that the fiber fabric is of the socalled spun-laced or spun-bonded type.

4. An elastic bandage according to Claim 1, characterized in that the pliable, air-permeable and essentially non-elastic layer is a perforated plastic film.

5. An elastic bandage according to Claim 1, characterized in that the elastic members are arranged in a pattern of mutually spaced, substantially parallel lines.

6. An elastic bandage according to Claim 1, characterized in that the elastic members are arranged in a diamond pattern.

7. An elastic bandage according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the elastic members are polyurethane ribbons.

8. An elastic bandage according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the elastic members are secured to the fiber fabric along their whole length, the bandage thereby being both transversely and longitudinally separable while essentially maintaining its elasticity.

9. An elastic bandage according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the elastic members are affixed to the fiber fabric by means of hot melt glue.

10. An elastic bandage substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawing.