Pain relief device

Abstract

The Pain relief device uses low voltage DC power sources to relieve pain and promote faster healing in the bodies of humans and animals safely. It has long been known that electrical stimulation to the body can relieve pain. The afflicted area of the body receives a positive (+) charge while the negative electrode (−) is placed on a different part of the body. The problem with attaching electrodes to the body is that if sufficient electricity is applied to accomplish the task of relieving pain, electrical burns to the skin can occur at the site of the negative (−) electrode. In the case of The Pain Relief Device, only the positive (+) electrode touches the skin as the negative (−) electrode is completely shielded with insulation. The electrical stimulation occurs harmlessly, because the shielded negatively (−) charged electrode or insulated pad, being an insulated sheet of aluminum foil produces an electric field in the body that is strong enough to cause a current to flow into the body at the site of the positive (+) electrode. No current can flow at the site of the negative (−) electrode because it is insulated and therefore no burns to the skin.

What I claim as my invention and discovery is:  
     
         1 . the Pain Relief Device, which is a therapeutic device using electrical stimulus in a way that has been previously unrecognized for its beneficial results, that can relieve pain and promote faster recovery from injuries in humans and animals and has 
 (a) a conducting pad that has conducting sheet on one side, an insulated pad which has a conducting sheet electrically insulated within, and a low voltage DC power source such as a battery, of from 0.0 volts to 7.0 volts that charges the device, and the conducting sheets are thin flat sheets of conducting material such as but not exclusively aluminum foil, that have a surface area depending on the application, the lower back case may have a surface area of 75 square inches where as one for the shoulder may only have a surface area of 18 square inches for both the conducting and insulated pads, and the device is in operation when the conducting sheet of the conducting pad is held firmly against the skin of the body at the site of the injury and the insulated pad is simultaneously placed on the skin on a location diametrically opposed to or on the opposite side of the body from the location of the injury charged by a DC power source    (b) a DC power source, using the convention that the positive (+) and negative (−) discussed in these claims are the same positive (+) and negative (−) as labeled on the poles on standard AAA, AA, A, and any other batteries or DC power sources, is wired into the device such that the conducting sheet of the conducting pad is electrically connected to the positive (+) pole of the DC power source and the conducting sheet of the insulated pad or ‘core’ is connected to the negative (−) pole of said DC power sources.    (c) a conducting pad and an insulated pad that have one conducting sheet each which become electrodes when connected, using insulated wire, to a DC power source as above and    (d) an insulated pad that is produced by completely insulating, on both sides, by sandwiching the conducting sheet electrode between two sheets of thin flexible insulating material, such as, but not limited to, vinyl, so that when the conducting sheet is bonded to the vinyl on each side by contact cement or some other adhesive, such that so assembled produces a thin, flat, shaped, pattern such as a square or rectangle or any other shape, made of vinyl, with an insulated wire protruding from its side, that is connected electrically to the slightly smaller patterned, thin conducting material of the conducting sheet, spread out perfectly flat within the vinyl sandwich and that after construction, none of the conducting sheet can be protruding through the vinyl of the insulated pad, nor can any exposed wires be permitted on the insulated pad part of this device and no part of the insulated pad thus made can conduct electricity through the insulation for voltages well in excess of the voltages indicated above.    (e) a conducting pad, which is also made from a thin sheet electrode, such as aluminum foil electrically wired to the positive pole of the DC power source, requires no insulation as it is to be in direct contact with the skin, flat across the body at the site of the injury, can be reinforced on the back of the conducting sheet by bonding it to a thin flexible material such as vinyl and that after construction, the conducting pad will be a thin flexible pattern of vinyl or some other flexible material with one side covered with exposed aluminum foil or other like material with a wire leading from the aluminum of the conducting pad to the positive (+) pole of the DC power source.    (f) in its basic form, a DC power source and separate wires leading to two thin pads, the conducting pad that has its aluminum electrode showing its conducting sheet's surface area exposed, the other, the insulated pad, showing no exposed conducting material at all, the conducting sheet electrode, or core, within completely electrically insulated, and two wires leading from the DC power source, one each to the conducting pad and the insulated pad such that the positive (+) pole of a DC power source (battery) is wired to the conducting sheet of the conducting pad and the negative pole of the same DC power source is wired to the conducting sheet or core within the insulated pad.    
     
     
         2 . the Pain Relief Device in accordance with  claim 1 . above that has two pads and a DC power source and 
 (a) the dimensions and shape of the pads used in a particular therapy is determined by the area of affliction, such as the lower back of 200 Lb. man of average height where a conducting pad having a dimension large enough to cover the whole lower back should be about 14 inches by 4½ to 5 inches on the side to 6 or seven inches in the middle measured from the top of the pad when centered horizontally on the lower back, the conducting sheet within the insulated pad should have roughly the same surface area or greater than the area of the conducting sheet of the conducting pad and for this 200 LB man the conducting sheet within the insulated pad could be 14 inches by 5 or 6 inches and    (b) the two pads and the battery can be attached to a belt used to hold the pads securely against the skin, conducting pad flat against the lower back, aluminum side down, insulated pad flat against the front, stomach, or abdomen, opposite to where the conducting pad is and    (c) similar configurations can be devised for other parts of the body using different sized pads for different parts of the body to be treated such as a shoulder that has a flexible conducting pad of say 6 inches by 4 inches placed on the shoulder aluminum side down, and an insulated pad the same size, placed on the lower upper arm, powered by batteries or use a very large insulated pad, of 14 inches by 5 inches placed against the abdomen wired to the same power source and the same shoulder conducting pad and the shoulder will receive positive therapeutic results including pain relief and faster recovery and    (d) if one large insulated pad placed on the abdomen similar to the lower back pain device such as above is used, several conducting pads can be used simultaneously, by wiring the conducting pads into the same battery in series and the various sized conducting pads placed on different afflicted parts of the body at the same time such as a shoulder-knee, elbow-ankle or even, knee-elbow-shoulder-ankle would create a positive therapeutic affect on these afflicted areas simultaneously as there would still be the same electrical response set up between the many conducting pads and the single insulated pad as the more awkward, one on one approach, or method using separate pads and power source for each individual affliction all affixed by some sort of harness, or tape, etc.    
     
     
         3 . the Pain Relief Device in accordance with  claim 1 , and  claim 2 . above is a device developed for harmlessly providing electrical stimulus to an afflicted area of the body to relieve pain, which sprang from the discovery 
 (a) that by bringing a positively (+) charged electrode powered by a low voltage DC power source such as a battery, in contact with the skin at the site of an injury and using an insulated negatively (−) charged conducting sheet powered by the same DC power source as the positively charged electrode, which is a large sheet like conductor, such as aluminum foil, within insulating material to form the insulated pad which is completely insulated and allows no current to flow from the conducting sheet within to the outside of the insulation of the insulated pad and the negatively (−) charged insulated pad when placed on the other side of the body from the positively (+) charged electrode sets up an electric field which flows through the body and causes a weak current to flow from the positively (+) charged electrode through the skin and to the injury causing the relief of pain and promoting faster recovery    (b) that the total current flowing into the body at the site of the positively (+) charged electrode is absorbed by the body, as the insulated pad, having its electrode completely insulated allows no current flow from the skin where it is located to the electrode of the insulated pad    (c) that a positively charged (+) single point electrode, or even multiple point electrodes will work therapeutically when used in conduction with a negatively (−) charged non conducting or insulated pad.    (d) that the conducting pad, using a sheet of aluminum foil to act as the positive (+) electrode, as a sheet of conducting material such as aluminum foil can cover much more surface area allowing larger injured areas such as the lower back to be treated.    (e) that the insulated pad is best placed on the other (opposite) side of the body from the injury, but regardless of where it is placed, the electric field set up between it and the conducting pad through the body will still exist and some current will still flow from the positive electrode into the injury providing some positive therapeutic affects.    (f) that if a larger insulated pad is used, such as in the lower back device, on the stomach or abdomen, and the conducting pad, placed remotely on a different part of the body, an electric field will still be set up causing current to flow from the conducting pad to the injury.    (g) that for animals such as dogs or cats that have fur, the conducting pad with a conducting sheet can be replaced by a conducting pad made like a flexible metal brush with each prong of the brush being positively (+) charged such that the prongs are individual point electrodes long enough to penetrate through the fur and come in direct contact with the skin of the animal and will act as a type of conducting sheet and will have a positive therapeutic affect when used in conjuction with the insulated pad in the same manner as above.    
     
     
         4 . the Pain Relief Device in accordance with claims  1 ,  2 , and  3  above which is a therapeutic device to relieve pain in humans and animals that can be constructed using a variety of materials as long as the conducting material used to construct the conducting sheets is thin, flexible, and conducts electricity, and the insulating material used to insulate the conducting sheet of the insulated pad is also thin, flexible and does not conduct electricity and 
 (a) the conducting sheets used in both the insulated and conducting pads can be made of aluminum foil or any thin flexible material as long as it conducts electricity and can include iron, copper, aluminum, gold, silver and all other metals and their alloys or other composite materials which can conduct electricity and  
 (b) the insulated material used to insulate the conducting sheet within the insulated pad can be made of any thin flexible material as long as the material will not conduct any electricity, including, but not limited to, vinyl, leather, rubber, latex, plastic, tape, fabric, cloth, paper, felt, etc., and  
 (c) a metal brush used as a conducting pad as in 3 h above can also be made of any material as long as the prongs on the brush conduct electricity and are anchored to a flexible material, such that the prongs are all wired to a positive (+) DC charge and the prongs are long enough to penetrate the fur and come in contact with the skin of the animal.  
 
     
     
         5 . the Pain Relief Device, in accordance with claims  1 ,  2 ,  3  and  4  above, which can be worn under the clothing if attached in place by straps and or tape or a harness designed for the purpose and can be completely portable in that the subject can be completely mobile if a battery pack is used for the DC power source and, 
 (a) since only low voltage DC (0.0 to 7.0 volts) power sources are required to power the device and no current is flowing through the body, which allows the use of alkaloid battery power sources, the device can be worn as long as desired and the subject can be completely mobile at the same time, and  
 (b) With four AA batteries, it is simple to produce a charge of approximately 1.5, 3.0, 4.5, or 6.0 volts DC by wiring the batteries in series with a switch that brings from 1 to 4 of the batteries on line. Switches like these are readily available and are also small and light weight. The subject could decide which voltage is working best for them and set the switch accordingly, and  
 (d) any DC power source that produces a voltage anywhere in the range of 0.0 and 7.0 volts used with an insulated pad and any type of electrode on the positive (+) pole will produce a beneficial therapeutic result.