Patent Publication Number: US-2020282281-A1

Title: Wrist Rehabilitation Aid System

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
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     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     The disclosure relates to wrist and tendon rehabilitation device and more particularly pertains to a new wrist and tendon rehabilitation device for allowing a person to reproduce a conventional baseball bat swinging motion against a resiliently stretchable tether without the tether binding against wrist rotation to the detriment of hamate bone and carpal tunnel syndrome rehabilitation activities. 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. 
     The prior art relates to wrist and tendon rehabilitation device. In particular, the prior art includes devices which do not allow for the free rotation of a handle as the handle is moved in baseball type swing pattern. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a rod that is elongated and has a first end, a second end and a perimeter surface extending between the first and second ends. A first portion of the rod is positioned adjacent to the first end and defines a grip. A connector is coupled to the second end. The connector is freely rotational with respect to the rod about a rotational axis orientated parallel to a longitudinal axis extending through the first and second ends of the rod. A tether is resiliently stretchable and has an attached end removably attached to the connector and a free end configured to be attached to a stationary anchor. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a side isometric view of a wrist rehabilitation aid system according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded, side isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a top view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a left side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a right side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the disclosure taken along line  6 - 6  of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 6  thereof, a new wrist and tendon rehabilitation device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 6 , the wrist rehabilitation aid system  10  generally comprises a rod  12  that is elongated and has a first end  14 , a second end  16  and a perimeter surface  18  extending between the first  14  and second  16  ends. The rod  12  may be comprised of any conventional, rigid material, such as wood, plastics, metals and the like. The rod  12  will typically be lightweight, with a total weight being less than 2.0 lbs. A first portion  20  of the rod  12  is defined which is positioned adjacent to the first end  14 . This first portion  20  furthermore defines a grip of the rod  12  and has a cylindrical shape with a diameter that is less than 2.0 inches and is greater than 0.75 inches. A knob  22  is attached to the first end  14  and may form a unitary structure with the rod  12 . A second portion  24  of the rod  12  is located adjacent to the second end  16  and defines a barrel that flares outwardly from the first portion  20 . Thus, the rod  12  may have the appearance of section of a baseball bat not including its outer section. In particular, the rod  12  has a length from the first end  14  to the second end  16  that is between 12.0 inches and 26.0 inches and therefore may be formed from a baseball bat which is cut down to the specified dimensions stated above. 
     A connector  26  is coupled to the second end  16 . The connector  26  is freely rotational with respect to the rod  12  about a rotational axis that is orientated parallel to a longitudinal axis extending through the first  14  and second  16  ends of the rod  12 . The connector  26  extends outwardly away from the second end  16  along the longitudinal axis. The rotational axis and longitudinal axis may be co-axes. 
     A tether  28 , which is resiliently stretchable, has an attached end  30  attached to the connector  26  and a free end  32  configured to be attached to a stationary anchor. The attached end  30  may be removably attached to the connector  26  so that the user may use different tethers  28 , each having a different resistance to stretching, with the rod  12 . Each of the attached  30  and free  32  ends may form a closed loop for easy attachment to anchors or the connector  26 . The anchor may comprise anything that is generally static and heavy enough to anchor the tether  28  while it is being used with the rod  12 . An example of a suitable anchor may include a doorknob of closed door. The connector  26  may comprise an eyelet  34 , having a break  36  therein, that removably engages the attached end  30 . The eyelet  34  may be part of eyebolt  38 . 
     A coupler  40  may be used to rotatably couple the connector  26  to the second end  16 . For example, the coupler  40  may include a cap  42  that has an end wall  44  and a perimeter wall  46 . The perimeter wall  46  extends around the rod  12  adjacent to the second end  16  such that an interior space  48  is defined between the end wall  44  and the second end  16 . A bearing  50  is mounted in and extends through the end wall  44 . The bearing  50  may comprise any conventional bearing such as a radial ball bearing, a cylinder bearing or the like having a stationary outer sleeve and a rotatable inner sleeve. The eyebolt  38  extends through the bearing  50  and has a threaded end  52  positioned within the interior space  48 . A nut  54  is positioned on the threaded end  52  to secure the eyebolt  38  to the bearing  50 . The cap  42  is secured to the rod  12  with conventional fasteners  56  though adhesives or other binding may be utilized. It should be understood that is possible for the attachment of the connector  26  to take many different forms and could be accomplished by securing the connector  26  directly to the rod  12  without the cap  42 , for example. It is essential that the connector  26  rotate freely relative to the rod  12  separately of the structure used to attach the connector  26  to the rod  12 . 
     In use, a user of the system  10  will grip the rod  12  adjacent to the first end  14  in the same manner as they might a baseball bat. The tether  28  will have already been selected based upon its resiliency and attached to the connector  26  and an anchor. The rod  12  is then swung in a typical baseball bat swing pattern wherein the hands are rolled over through the swing to produce a natural swing motion. By using a rotatable connector  26 , the hands can easily roll over through the swing without the tether  28  binding relative to the rod  12 . That is, the connector  26  allows the rod  12  to rotate freely of the tether  28  to prevent the tether from biasing against rod  12  rotation. Biasing of rotation is detrimental to the rehabilitation of, for example, hamate bone injuries as well as carpal tunnel syndrome rehabilitation. 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.