Appliance to prevent locked fingers during sleep and for exercising grip

Abstract

Fingers clenched during sleep (the ‘trigger finger’ condition) can be prevented from locking up by limiting the degree of flexure (closure) that the fingers can experience. An object of compressible resilient material, which may be a soft rubber ball, is affixed proximate the palm of the hand. As the fingers curve to become flexed they wrap around the object and the degree of flexure is limited to a non-locking amount by the gradual but increasing resistance of the object to compression. To keep the ball in place during sleep the person may wear a glove, and the ball is removably affixed to the exterior palm portion of the glove, perhaps with hook and loop fasteners. The glove may be of thin stretchable material that is also breathable and having finger sections that omit the ends thereof. The appliance can be used for hand exercises, and different degrees of effort can be obtained by selecting a compressible resilient object having a desired degree of resistance to compression. And for either use, the size of the compressible resilient object or diameter of the ball can be chosen to fit comfortably within the partially flexed fingers of the hand. Alternate embodiments include permanently mounting the ball to the palm of the glove and omitting the glove in favor of elastic loops affixed to the ball (either permanently or removably) that engage the center fingers and the back of the hand.

I claim:  
     
         1 . Apparatus to prevent locking of flexed fingers and for exercising grip, the apparatus comprising: 
 a glove to be worn on a person's hand;    a compressible and resilient object, of a size and shape grippable by the fingers of the hand, and having sufficient resistance to compression that the flexure of the fingers is limited to an amount that they do not become locked in the flexed state; and    a fastener that affixes the compressible and resilient object against the glove proximate the palm of the hand.    
     
     
         2 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein the compressible and resilient object is a rubber ball.  
     
     
         3 . Apparatus as in  claim 2  wherein the rubber ball is of closed cell rubber.  
     
     
         4 . Apparatus as in  claim 2  wherein the diameter of the rubber ball is in the range of about two to three inches.  
     
     
         5 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein the hardness of the compressible and resilient object varies from about two to twenty on the Shore A scale as the object is increasingly compressed to about half its thickness.  
     
     
         6 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein the fastener comprises patches of hook and loop material, one of which is affixed to the compressible and resilient object and the other of which is affixed to the palm of the glove.  
     
     
         7 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein the glove is of leather and the tips of the thumb and finger portions are absent.  
     
     
         8 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein the compressible and resilient object is removably fastened to the glove.  
     
     
         9 . Apparatus as in  claim 1  wherein the compressible and resilient object is permanently fastened to the glove.  
     
     
         10 . Apparatus as in  claim 9  wherein the fastener is an adhesive.  
     
     
         11 . Apparatus to prevent locking of flexed fingers and for exercising grip, the apparatus comprising: 
 a first loop of elastic material of circumference selected to fit snugly around the portion of a human hand that is between the knuckles for the four adjacent fingers and the knuckle for the thumb;    a second loop of elastic material of circumference selected to fit snugly around one or more of the fingers and at a location thereon proximate the knuckle where the one or more fingers are joined to the hand;    a compressible and resilient object fastened to the first loop of elastic material at a first location on the object and fastened to the second loop of elastic material at a second location on the object, the first and second locations selected to accommodate the way the object is gripped by flexing the fingers while the object is against the palm of the hand.    
     
     
         12 . Apparatus as in  claim 11  wherein the compressible and resilient object is removably fastened to the first and second elastic loops.  
     
     
         13 . Apparatus as in  claim 11  wherein the compressible and resilient object is permanently fastened to the first and second elastic loops.  
     
     
         14 . Apparatus as in  claim 11  wherein the compressible and resilient object comprises a rubber ball.  
     
     
         15 . A method to prevent locking of flexed fingers and for exercising grip, the method comprising the steps of: 
 wearing upon a portion of the hand a snug fitting covering of flexible material;    attaching to the covering at a location proximate the palm of the hand a compressible and resilient object; and    limiting with the resistance of the object to compression the extent to which the fingers of the hand can flex.    
     
     
         16 . A method as in  claim 15  wherein the limiting step further comprises the step of preventing locked fingers by keeping the fingers from flexing to the degree needed to become locked.