Therapeutic wrap

Abstract

Temperature-controlled therapy wrap for treatment of at least a portion of an animate body including a fluid bladder including an inlet, an outlet, and at least one fluidic channel connecting the inlet to the outlet; and a thermal insulating member on the fluid bladder only directly adjacent the inlet and extending along the at least one fluidic channel. The therapy wrap may be adapted to compensate for a temperature delta in the wrap. The therapy wrap may include an insulating layer of one or more insulating members. The insulating layer is dimensioned and configured to have different coefficients of heat transfer. The insulating layer may have varying thicknesses and materials to achieve varying heat transfer rates. Also disclosed is a method of administering a temperature-controlled treatment to an anatomical body part.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 254,064 filed on Oct. 22, 2009, entitled, “TEMPERATURE AND FLOW CONTROL METHODS IN A THERMAL THERAPY DEVICE.”FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to therapy of an animate body, and more particularly a therapeutic wrap of the type having circulating fluid to provide cooling, heating, and / or compression to a human or animal body part.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]It is now common to apply cold and compression to a traumatized area of a human body to facilitate healing and prevent unwanted consequences of the trauma. In fact, the acronym RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) is now used by many.[0004]Cold packing with ice bags or the like traditionally has been used to provide deep core cooling of a body part. Elastic wraps are often applied to provide compression.[0005]It will be appreciated that these traditional techniques are q...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012]The present invention involves improvements in heat transfer therapy apparatus and avoids disadvantages in the prior art.

Problems solved by technology

It will be appreciated that these traditional techniques are quite uncontrollable.

Because of these and other difficulties, many in the field have turned to a more complicated animate body heat exchanger.

One issue with these types of therapeutic wraps is that the fluid warms from the body part heat as it passes through the wrap.

In some cases, the fluid warms to a degree that a portion of the wrap no longer provides therapy.

Increasing the flow rate reduces the cooling effect of the wrap.

If the temperature is too low, the wrap becomes uncomfortable for the patient and can even lead to burns during extended periods of use.

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