| 摘要 |
A multisection composite material (10) useful in forming compression braces for orthopedic support of a body part includes a user contacting fabric section (12), an outermost fabric section (18) formed from bonding two dissimilar fabrics and an intermediate section (20) formed from a closed cell foam. The user contacting fabric section (12) is a fabric having multidimensional stretch properties formed from hydrophobic fibers and bonded to a surface (22) of the intermediate foam section (26). The outermost section includes a first fabric layer (18) having multidimensional stretch properties formed from hydrophilic fibers and a second fabric layer (16) having multidimensional stretch properties formed from hydrophobic fibers. The intermediate foam section (26) has a first surface and a second surface (22,24) and has a multiplicity of perforations (28) therethrough from the first surface to the second surface. The foam has multidimensional elastic properties sufficient for providing compressive strain useful for supporting the body part. The first layer (16) of the outermost section is bonded to the second surface (24) of the intermediate section (20). Moisture emitted from a user's skin passes through the hydrophobic user contacting section (12) to the intermediate section (20) whereupon it passes through the perforations (28) and is spread by the hydrophilic first fabric layer (16). The spreading of the emitted moisture by the hydrophilic layer (16) increases the surface area of the moisture thereby substantially increasing the rate of evaporation of the moisture through the hydrophobic second layer (18). The spreading of the moisture by the hydrophilic layer also improves user comfort by preventing wet spots on the outside surface fabric (18) around the openings of the perforation. The invention includes compressive orthopedic support braces for the wrist, elbow, thigh, knee and ankle formed from the material of the invention in sizes suitable for users having different physical stature. Orthopedic support braces formed from the composite material of the present invention provide the support advantages of foam braces with the comfort of elasticized knit braces. <IMAGE> |
