Patent ID: 7516498
Filing Date: 2009-04-14
Classification: A41D

Abstract:
1. A garment for wearing on the lower body portion of a person, the lower body portion including the person's waist, hips, and at least one leg, the leg including an upper leg portion joined at one of the person's hips and a lower leg portion hingedly joined to the upper leg portion by a knee, the garment comprising: a trunk portion configured to be received over the person's waist and hips when the garment is worn by the person; a generally tubular leg portion extending downwardly from the trunk portion and configured to be received over the upper leg portion, knee, and at least a substantial portion of the lower leg portion of the person when the garment is worn by the person; the trunk portion and the leg portion comprising a plurality of load transferring sections separated by base sections, at least the base sections being stretchable and resilient so that the trunk portion and the leg portion are tightly fitted when the garment is worn by the person, the load transferring sections having a substantially higher resistance to tensile strain than the base sections; wherein said load transferring sections comprise: wherein said load transferring sections are configured to cooperate to resist inward or outward lateral movement of the person's knee when the garment is worn by the person as a result of the connections between the inner and outer lateral portions of the knee load distributing ring and the upper anchor portion and the lower anchor portion.