Patent ID: 7001348

Claim:
A body brace comprising: a one-piece flexible panel, said one-piece flexible panel having a left end and a right end and being sufficiently long between said left end and said right end to extend around the torso of a wearer and sufficiently long so that said left end and said right end overlap to define an overlap area; attachment structure in said overlap area so that said first and second ends can be attached to each other in a selected position; an upper cord system and a lower cord system attached to said one-piece panel away from said ends thereof, each of said upper and lower cord systems comprising a left cord guide and a right cord guide, all four of said guides being attached to said one-piece panel, said left and right cord guides being spaced from each other, said upper cord system including an upper cord sinuously engaging said spaced left and right upper cord guides and said lower cord system including a lower cord sinuously engaging said spaced left and right lower cord guides, said upper and lower cords each having a pulling end accessible to the wearer and having securing structure for securing said cords when they are tensioned by the wearer so that said body brace can be separately tensioned at said upper cord system and said lower cord system; and wherein said cord guides are spaced from each other and there is a pocket attached to said one-piece panel between said cord guides, said pocket being configured to selectively receive a cushioning pad, a cold pack, a hot pack, or a stiffener.