A trunk orthosis including a bandage that is designed to be put on a patient's trunk, and a supporting device which is connected to the bandage. The supporting device is designed as a frame with frame sections that are hingedly or elastically secured to one another, are spring-biased, and are pre-stressed by the bandage when worn on the patient's trunk.

A back brace includes first and second flexible belt members; a back plate, means for securing the back plate to the belt members, and a height adjustment member. The back plate is contoured on one side to support a first portion of a wearer's back, and has pairs of openings spaced apart in a vertical direction. The height adjustment member is contoured on one side to support a second portion of the wearer's back, and has a plurality of pairs of protrusions configured to releasably couple to a corresponding plurality of the pairs of openings in the back plate at each of a plurality of different height-adjusted positions. The height adjustment member may have four protrusions that engage two pairs of the plurality of series of pairs of openings in the back plate, to provide greater support and stability to the height adjustment member.

Active wearable body brace embodiments provide selectable conformation control of the interface between the trunk of a human subject and the brace, which conformation may be varied over time and responsively to feedback and an updateable prescription. Further active wearable body brace embodiments provide selectable movement control of the interface between the trunk of a human subject and the brace with up to six degrees of freedom between elements to allow a controller to implement operations such as muscle challenges, active support, and passive-like support where actuators mimic springs. Further embodiments may also provide detection functions such as quantifying muscle weakness. The features of these embodiments may be combined in various ways to provide still further embodiments.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an exoskeleton support system for posture feedback and support during body trunk motions. The system comprises a biomimetic semi-rigid support system connected to body attachment straps for coupling the system onto a user. A feedback pad is positioned on the user's back at a location corresponding to a middle thoracic region of the user. This arrangement causes the user to experience pressure feedback on the back when torso flexion and twisting occur. In addition, progressive resistance on the shoulders is provided via shoulder straps containing stitching in a curved manner to allow for longitudinal flexion and unrestricted arm motion during system use. Further, the system provides indications of safe movements by way of little to no feedback during neutral torso positions. Accordingly, the system only delivers feedback pressure in response to an amount of the user's own body motion.

A thoracic lumbar sacral orthosis includes an upper body support for use with a torso orthosis. The upper body support has an anterior assembly including an anterior plate secured to the torso orthosis, a sternal assembly connected to the anterior plate, and a pectoral assembly connected to the sternal assembly. A posterior assembly is connected to the torso orthosis and is connected to the pectoral assembly by at least one strap. The sternal assembly has at least one pivot point arranged to pivot the sternal assembly relative to the anterior plate.

An adjustable back brace configured to aid in the correction of spinal curvature during a treatment period of a patient is provided. In some aspects, the adjustable back brace comprises a rod, an inferior segment, and a superior segment. The inferior segment is configured to stabilize a pelvic region of the patient. The superior segment is configured to apply pressure to one of a first lateral side and a second lateral side of the patient, proximate a thoracic region of the patient to provide a corrective force on the spinal curvature of the patient. The superior segment is also selectively adjustable to be selectively moved and fixedly positioned in a plurality of positions along at least one of the lateral direction or the vertical direction, wherein the plurality of positions are designed for periodic adjustment of the corrective force on the spinal curvature during the treatment period.

A garment worn on the upper body is provided with a back support system that can be selectively actuated as needed, and otherwise remains relatively unobtrusive when not actuated. The back support system includes a selectively inflatable and deflatable air bladder positioned at a desired location on a rear part of the garment opposite a portion of the wearer's back that needs support. Preferably, the air bladder is disposed within a pocket or compartment, preferably defined on an interior side of the garment, thereby leaving the exterior of the garment relatively unaltered in a visual sense. In a particular example, the air bladder of the present invention has a physical configuration designed to support specific portions of the spinal column as well as adjoining musculature.

A lifting aid for supporting the trunk muscles, which is arranged in a fixed position on the back of a person carrying it via an upper (wearer) and a lower body connection, havinga fixed back system with the right and left hip elements hinged theretoat least one mechanical energy storage device which stores energy as elastic deformation and the spring elements of which are attached at one end to the lower body connection;at least one force transmission element/tensioning device, which is attached to the lower energy storage device(s) and connects it to the back system, as well as freewheel devices with a freewheeling and adjustment function in the hip elements, the fixed back system being fixed to the back and the tensile forces of the energy storage devices being transmitted to the back area, and relates to a fixed back element.

A posture corrector device (1) that is arranged on the lumbar region and that includes a generally U-shaped stiffening inner structure (2) that remains housed within an external cover (3) that possesses wings (5) at its end. Preferably the wings (5) are foldable with respect to the central part of the device by means of folding lines (6) and the inner face of the wings possesses a pad (4) to rest the forearms. Also, a rucksack is provided that includes a foldable posture corrector device (1) determined by the existence of respective foldable wings (5) on both sides of the rear part (11a) of the bag (11) to support the forearms and forcing the user to straighten his back when he is wearing the rucksack (10).

An active wearable system includes a one or more positioning elements configured as a torso support and/or other wearable item, one or more sensors for sensing motion, posture, or gait of a subject, and at least one of force applying elements for applying force to selected regions of a body of a subject, and feedback device and other actuators, under the control of control circuitry responsive to sensed motion, posture or gait of the subject. In an aspect, force is applied according to spatial or temporal patterns. Related devices and methods are described.