Patent ID: 7063676

Claim:
A device for applying pressure to a body limb having a primary axis, comprising: first and second inflatable cells, each of the first and second cells including at least three intra-cell compartments; said intra-cell compartments being confluent, each compartment being elongated along a primary axis of a body limb and being substantially rectangular in shape when deflated and substantially cylindrical in shape when inflated, cylindrical axes of the inflated compartments substantially aligning with the primary axis of the limb, the first and second cells being longitudinally adjacent each other, and arranged coaxially with respect to the primary axis of the limb, the first and second cells being intermittently inflatable to apply pressure to the limb, wherein the inflatable cells each comprise inner and outer shells of durable flexible material, said inner and outer shells being bonded together to form a perimetric cell bond to define the inflatable cell therebetween, said inner and outer shells being further bonded together to form compartmental bonds within the perimetric cell bond to define the plurality of intra-cell compartments, wherein the perimetric cell bond includes upper and lower perimetric cell bonds extending substantially in a lateral direction, and left and right perimetric cell bonds extending substantially in the longitudinal direction, and wherein the compartmental bonds partly extend between the upper and lower perimetric cell bonds, wherein the compartmental bonds include perforations to allow for confluent air flow between compartments within a cell, neighboring compartments along a lateral axis sharing a common border and being spatially fixed relative to each other, such that upon inflation of a cell, the cell becomes circumferentially constricted, the first and second cells being non-confluent such that the first and second cells are separately inflatable; means for laterally coupling outermost compartments so as to form a sleeve substantially cylindrically; inflating means for intermittently inflating the first and second cells; and control means for determining a treatment specificity of each cell and for determining a timing sequence for inflating of each cell based on the determined treatment specificity of each cell; said sleeve having a center point circumference of Nπr when the cell is deflated and a center point circumference of 2Nr when the cell is inflated, where N is the number of compartments in the cell, and where r is the cross-sectional radius of each compartment when inflated, the center point circumference being a line passing through each center point of each adjacent intra-cell compartment of said inflatable cell; said compartmental bonds of said intra-cell compartments, during inflation, being drawn towards each other to decrease a distance therebetween and towards the center point of said intra-cell compartments to decrease a distance therebetween, so as to provide for circumferential constriction.