Patent ID: 8012112

Claim:
A walking brace for providing therapeutic pressure to a person's lower leg, said brace comprising: a rigid exterior shell adapted to fit around at least a major portion of said lower leg and having interior and exterior surfaces and two opposite sides, said shell being perforated over a substantial portion of each of said interior and exterior surfaces so as to allow air to pass through the shell between said surfaces; an interior liner arranged in said shell to cushion said major portion of said lower leg, said liner including two, spaced-apart, inner and outer layers of flexible material that extend substantially parallel to each other and spacer members arranged between and connecting said inner and outer layers, at least said inner layer being porous so as to allow air to pass through the inner layer, said spacer members forming air passageways between adjacent spacer members so that air can pass along said passageways to allow air circulation in said liner and through said inner layer during use of the brace; at least one strap connector for securing said brace on the lower leg; and a strap bridge for each of said at least one strap connector, said strap bridge being mounted on said exterior shell by means of bridge supports located at least at opposite ends of the bridge and being adapted to support its strap connector away from the exterior shell, said bridge including a bridge span extending between said bridge supports and around the two opposite sides and spaced from said exterior surface of the exterior shell, wherein during use of said walking brace, each of said at least one strap connector extends over and is supported by its respective strap bridge in such manner that air is able to circulate through said exterior shell under each of said at least one strap and its respective bridge.