Portable hip-abducting seat support and method

Abstract

A portable hip abduction apparatus for improving the posture and torso stability of a seated user, especially an individual with cerebral palsy. A flexible sheet is provided for placement on a seating surface. A backrest of the seating section and/or an incline block may be used to gradually elevate a seating section of the flexible sheet located adjacent a pommel attachment section. Along the pommel attachment section of the flexible sheet, a preferably trapezoidal abduction pommel is releasably connected. Due to the incline produced by either the incline block and/or the backrest, a user seated on the seating surface is urged towards the abduction pommel to wedge the user therebetween. In this manner, the wedging action causes the user's legs and hips to be abducted and the user's pelvis to be rotated forward toward vertical.

I claim:  
     
         1 . A portable hip abduction apparatus for improving the posture of a user, especially a user with cerebral palsy, when sitting on a seat having a base and a backrest, said apparatus comprising: 
 a flexible sheet having a pommel section, a back section, and a seating section between the pommel section and the back section, each of the sections having a top surface and a friction-inducing bottom surface;    an abduction pommel for abducting the legs and hips of a user; and    means for connecting the abduction pommel to the top surface of the pommel section of the flexible sheet such that a user seated on the top surface of the seating section may straddle the abduction pommel,    whereby, upon positioning the flexible sheet and abduction pommel on the seat such that the friction-inducing bottom surface of the pommel section contacts the base and the friction-inducing bottom surface of the back section contacts the backrest and upon subsequently straddle-seating a user on the flexible sheet to exert a distributed load against the top surfaces of the flexible sheet, the friction-inducing bottom surfaces of the flexible sheet restrain the flexible sheet from slipping on the seat such that the user is wedged between the abduction pommel and the backrest by the user's weight, and the wedging action causes the abduction pommel to abduct the user's hips and rotate the user's pelvis in an anterior direction toward neutral.    
     
     
         2 . The apparatus as in  claim 1 , 
 wherein the means for connecting the abduction pommel to the top surface of the pommel section comprises means for releasably connecting the abduction pommel to the top surface of the pommel section.    
     
     
         3 . The apparatus as in  claim 2 , 
 wherein the means for releasably connecting the abduction pommel to the top surface of the pommel section comprises hook and loop material.    
     
     
         4 . The apparatus as in  claim 1 , 
 further comprising an incline block for progressively elevating the seating section of the flexible sheet as distance from the pommel section increases, said incline block having a lower surface for contacting the base of the seat, and an incline surface sloping upward above the lower surface from a lower edge to an upper edge, said incline surface for contacting the friction-inducing bottom surface of at least the seating section of the flexible sheet with the upper edge of the incline block spaced a greater distance from the pommel section than the lower edge,    whereby the incline block contributes to the wedging action of the user between the abduction pommel and the backrest of the seat.    
     
     
         5 . The apparatus as in  claim 4 , 
 wherein the lower surface of the incline block is a friction-inducing surface.    
     
     
         6 . The apparatus as in  claim 1 , 
 wherein the abduction pommel has a semi-rigid foam construction for providing cushioned support to a user's pelvic region during hip abduction.    
     
     
         7 . A portable hip abduction apparatus for improving the posture of a user, especially a user with cerebral palsy, when sitting on a generally horizontal surface, said apparatus comprising: 
 a flexible sheet having a pommel section and a seating section adjacent the pommel section, each of the sections having a top surface and a friction-inducing bottom surface;    an abduction pommel for abducting the legs and hips of a user;    means for connecting the abduction pommel to the top surface of the pommel section of the flexible sheet such that a user seated on the top surface of the seating section may straddle the abduction pommel; and    an incline block for progressively elevating the seating section as distance from the pommel section increases, said incline block having a lower surface for contacting the generally horizontal surface, and an incline surface sloping upward above the lower surface from a lower edge to an upper edge, said incline surface for contacting the friction-inducing bottom surface of at least the seating section of the flexible sheet with the upper edge of the incline block spaced a greater distance from the pommel section than the lower edge,    whereby, upon positioning the flexible sheet and abduction pommel on the generally horizontal surface with the incline block placed between the generally horizontal surface and at least the seating section of the flexible sheet and upon subsequently straddle-seating a user on the flexible sheet to exert a distributed load against the top surfaces of the flexible sheet, the friction-inducing bottom surfaces of the flexible sheet restrain the flexible sheet from slipping on the incline block such that the user is wedged between the abduction pommel and the incline block by the user's weight, and the wedging action causes the abduction pommel to abduct the user's hips and rotate the user's pelvis in an anterior direction toward neutral.    
     
     
         8 . The apparatus as in  claim 7 , 
 wherein the means for connecting the abduction pommel to the top surface of the pommel section comprises means for releasably connecting the abduction pommel to the top surface of the pommel section.    
     
     
         9 . The apparatus as in  claim 8 , 
 wherein the means for releasably connecting the abduction pommel to the top surface of the pommel section comprises hook and loop material.    
     
     
         10 . The apparatus as in  claim 7 , 
 wherein the lower surface of the incline block is a friction-inducing surface.    
     
     
         11 . The apparatus as in  claim 7 , 
 wherein the abduction pommel has a semi-rigid foam construction for providing cushioned support to a user's pelvic region during hip abduction.    
     
     
         12 . A method for abducting the hips of a user, especially a user with cerebral palsy, to improve the posture of the user when sitting on a seat with a base and a backrest, said method comprising the steps of: 
 providing a hip abduction apparatus comprising a flexible sheet having a pommel section, a back section, and a seating section between the pommel section and the back section, each of the sections having a top surface and a friction-inducing bottom surface, and an abduction pommel for abducting the legs and hips of a user;    connecting the abduction pommel to the top surface of the pommel section of the flexible sheet such that a user seated on the top surface of the seating section may straddle the abduction pommel;    positioning the hip abduction apparatus on the seat with the friction-inducing bottom surface of the pommel section contacting the base and the friction-inducing bottom surface of the back section contacting the backrest;    seating a user on the flexible sheet to straddle the abduction pommel and exert a distributed load against the top surfaces of the flexible sheet;    restraining the flexible sheet from slipping on the seat by action of the friction-inducing bottom surfaces of at least the pommel and back sections; and    wedging the user between the abduction pommel and the backrest by the user's weight such that the wedging action causes the abduction pommel to abduct the user's hips and rotate the user's pelvis in an anterior direction toward neutral.    
     
     
         13 . The method as in  claim 12 , 
 further comprising the step of pulling up the back section of the flexible sheet while the user is seated, such that the abduction pommel is drawn closer to the backrest of the seat and the user's pelvis is further rotated in an anterior direction toward neutral.    
     
     
         14 . The method as in  claim 12 , 
 wherein the step of positioning the hip abduction apparatus on the seat produces a gap space between the seating section and the seat, whereby the top surface of the seating section is an inclining surface for urging a seated user toward the abduction pommel and rotating the user's pelvis in an anterior direction toward neutral.