Patent ID: 6942630

Claim:
An inflatable suspension harness/body jacket for use in medical partial weight-bearing therapy, comprising: two shoulder straps, each shoulder strap having two ends, one end of each shoulder strap passing through a central opening of a D-ring; a jacket comprising a left jacket portion and a right jacket portion, each jacket portion having a front and a back, a top and a bottom, and inner and outer surfaces, and having a further D-ring securably attached to the bottom of the jacket portion at a point midway between the front and the back thereof; at least one inflatable bladder securably attached to the inner surface of each of the left and right jacket portions; a plurality of thigh extension straps, each strap having two ends; and two thigh wraps, corresponding to a left thigh wrap and a right thigh wrap, each wrap having a front and a rear, wherein one end of each shoulder strap is securably attached to the top back of each of the left and right jacket portions, the other end of the shoulder strap being detachably attached to the top front of the same jacket portion; the left and right jacket portions are attached to each other by means of a plurality of front straps securably attached to the front of each jacket portion, and a plurality of back straps securably attached to the back of each jacket portion, with the front straps of the left jacket portion being removably attached to the front straps of the right jacket portion, and the back straps of the left jacket portion being removably attached to the back straps of the right jacket portion; one end of at least one thigh extension strap is securably attached to the front of each of the left and right jacket portions, the other end of each such thigh extension strap being securably attached to the front of one of the thigh wraps; and one end of at least one other thigh extension strap is securably attached to the back of each of the left and right jacket portions, with the other end of each such thigh extension strap being securably attached to the back of one of the thigh wraps; the thigh wraps, thigh extension straps and jacket portions being configured relative to each other such that the left thigh wrap is attached by a plurality of thigh extension straps to the left jacket portion, while the right thigh wrap is attached by another plurality of thigh extension straps to the right jacket portion; each of the D-rings being configured such that, when the suspension harness/body jacket is worn, the D-rings may be removably attached to a frame or other apparatus for offloading a portion of a patient's body weight; and each of the further D-rings being configured such that, when the suspension harness/body jacket is worn, the further D-rings also may be removably attached to the frame or other apparatus, thereby providing additional offloading capacity.