BACKGROUND

[0001] The present invention relates to garments, and more particularly to garments known generally in the art as compression shirts or shoulder stabilization shirts.

[0002] Compression shirts are garments worn by individuals for a variety of purposes, but are primarily worn by active individuals and athletes participating in sports activities.

Essentially, a compression shirt serves as a type of upper body girdle, providing compressive support to several areas of the wearer's body, including the shoulders, arms, torso, chest, back and abdomen areas. Compression shirts are often used by individuals during sports activities to reduce muscle fatigue, improve thermoregulation by wicking perspiration away from the body, and maintaining muscle warmth to reduce the potential for muscle strains. These garments may be worn by individuals as a preventative measure, or to provide additional support for areas weakened by injury.

[0003] Compression shirts are often manufactured using stretchable or elastomeric fabrics such as nylon, polyester, Lycra™ and Spandex™. Typically, a compression shirt is constructed such that this elastomeric fabric is placed in tension when the shirt is pulled onto the wearer's body, thereby providing some degree of compressive Support for the wearer. The particular part of the body receiving this compressive support depends upon the nature of the construction of the garment.

[0004] Simple shirts, although capable of providing some general level of compression to portions of a user's body, generally do not target such compression to a particular area of the wearer's body and not to others; rather, they simply "squeeze" whatever portion of the body the fabric overlies.

[0005] Further, such shirts do not necessarily provide resistance to undesired ranges of movement. They do not provide any specific resistance to certain unidirectional and

multidirectional motions. In many instances, limiting certain muscle and joint actions is very important when one is trying to heal from an injury such as a shoulder separation or rotator cuff tendonitis. Other prior art shirts have attempted to address disorders of the shoulder by adding various straining straps or fabric panels. Examples of shirts using straining straps or fabric panels are U.S. Patent Nos. 5,937,442, 6,892,396, and 7,871,388. However, these shirts do not effectively limit certain muscle and joint actions for the arms, shoulders, and torso.

[0006] To prevent or treat shoulder injuries, special taping techniques to limit joint and muscle motions have been used for years in sports medicine. These taping techniques must be performed by persons possessing special skills and knowledge, and for hygienic reasons may only be used for short durations.

[0007] Until now there has not been a single garment that reproduces the arm, shoulder, and torso anatomy to provide specific unidirectional and multidirectional support to both muscle and joint action. There remains a pressing need for a compression shirt which is constructed to provide not only general compressive forces to the areas of the body covered by the shirt, but also to provide specific extra forces to certain areas of the body to limit certain undesired joint movements and muscle activities in the shoulders, arms, and torso. Specifically, a better upper body garment is needed for the prevention and treatment of shoulder instabilities, rotator cuff tendonitis, muscle weakness and strains, torso and abdominal muscle injuries, as well as for improving postural control.

SUMMARY

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to design a shoulder stabilization shirt, or other stabilization garment, that may create compression to areas of the body to provide stability and tension to protect injured or recovering muscles and joints. It also may be used to prevent shoulder or torso injuries, as well as improving postural control.

[0009] The instant application may provide more specific compressive protection to a wearer's upper body than that provided by prior art shirts. The shoulder stabilization shirt may be constructed of multiple strips of elastomeric material sewn together in an overlapping manner to form the shirt. These elastomeric strips may be oriented primarily in diagonal, overlapping configurations, which configurations have been determined to be particularly helpful in stabilizing, to some extent, a wearer's shoulder, arm, and torso areas, in addition to supporting the wearer's chest, back, and abdominal areas.

[0010] More particularly, one embodiment of the shoulder stabilization shirt has a front portion, a rear portion, and sleeve portions, with all these portions attached to one another at multiple left and right side seams. Like most traditional shirts, the shoulder stabilization shirt has a collar encircling the upper edges of the front, rear, and sleeve portions, a waistband formed at the lower edges of the front and rear portions of the shirt, as well as cuffs formed at the lower edge of the sleeve portion. Unlike traditional shirts, the shoulder stabilization shirt may also contain two sleeve portions on each side, attached in between the front and rear portions of the shirt as well as a reinforced waistband. Seams attaching the sleeve portions to the front and rear portions of the shirt may run directly from the collar down to the armpit portion of the shirt. The seams may be made of reinforced thread. This is in contrast to other t-shirts in which the seams attaching the sleeve portions to the front and rear portions of the shirt are positioned off-center from the collar at the top edge of the shoulder and run down to the under-arm portion of the shirt.

[0011] According to one embodiment, the waistband and cuffs may include a tacky surface which serves as an anti-skid device to keep the compression shirt positioned in correctly on the wearer's body.

[0012] Two groups of elastomeric strips of fabric may extend diagonally across the front portion of the shirt, while two groups of elastomeric strips of fabric may extend diagonally across the rear portion of the shirt, and two groups of elastomeric strips of fabric extend vertically across the sleeve portion. For clarification, the term "vertical" refers to the extension of the elastomeric material from the collar region down the top of the arm to the bottom cuff of the sleeve. The front and rear groups of elastomeric strips extend from the upper portion of the shirt diagonally to the lower portion of the shirt, from one side to the opposite, while the sleeve groups of elastomeric strips extend vertically along the side of the sleeve portion.

[0013] According to one embodiment, the seams of the compression shirt may serve as anchor points for the elastomeric strips. For example, one group of elastomeric strips may extend from a right-side seam of the front portion of the shirt to the top-rear sleeve seam of the left sleeve portion of the shirt. The use of a reinforced waistband and/or a tacky surface on the waistband and cuffs may reinforce the positioning of the anchor points, and thus the positioning of the strips, on the wearer's body.

[0014] According to another embodiment, the elastomeric strips may extend from the front portion or back portion of the shirt across each shoulder and/or each side of the collar bone of the wearer to the back portion or front portion of the shirt, respectively, to provide additional support to the arm, shoulder, and torso.

[0015] In a further embodiment, the elastomeric strips of fabric may extend diagonally at an angle of approximately 15 degrees to approximately 75 degrees from the oblique right and left seams of the garment. The angle of the strips may be selected to compress different muscle groups and portions of the wearer's upper body. To further exact a correct amount of compression, the strips may have a width of between approximately 2 inches and 12 inches. The angle of the strips and/or the width of the strips may further change depending on the size of the compression shirt (e.g. small, medium, large, extra large, etc.). [0016] Other strips of the same material may also form the other portions of the shirt. The widths and sizes of the elastomeric strips may be changed arbitrarily as required.

[0017] In a further embodiment, the elastomeric material may be configured to form a front and/or back "x-shaped" panel that may extend from the back portion or front portion of the shirt across each shoulder and/or each side of the collar bone of the wearer to the front portion or back portion of the shirt, respectively. To further compress different muscle groups and/or provide further stability, additional elastomeric strips of fabric may be added to the garment.

[0018] The shape of the collar portion is not limited to that shown in the drawings, but may be changed arbitrarily as required, for instance to a crew-neck type, a v-neck type, a high-neck type, or a turtle-neck type, or a collared-neck type.

[0019] The unique orientation and overlapping configurations of the elastomeric strips used in the construction of the shoulder stabilization shirt may provide specific compressive support to reduce movement and improve stability to a wearer's shoulder, arm, and torso areas, in addition may support the wearer's chest, back, and abdominal areas.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] In drawings which illustrate specific embodiments of the invention, but which should not be construed as restricting the spirit or scope of the invention in any way:

[0021] FIG. 1 is a front view of the compression shirt of one embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] FIG. 2A is a rear view of the compression shirt of one embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] FIG. 2B is a rear view of the compression shirt of another embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] FIG. 3 is a front view of a shirt with no elastomeric strips attached.

[0025] FIG. 4 is a rear view of the shirt illustrated in FIG. 3 with no elastomeric strips attached.

[0026] FIG. 5 is a front view of a compression shirt, according to an embodiment, with only the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips attached.

[0027] FIG. 6 is a rear view of the compression shirt illustrated in FIG. 5 with only the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips attached. [0028] FIG. 7 is a front view of a compression shirt, according to another embodiment, with the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips, as well as the right and left oblique rear elastomeric strips attached.

[0029] FIG. 8 is a rear view of a compression shirt, according to a further embodiment, with the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips, as well as the oblique rear elastomeric strips attached.

[0030] FIG. 9 is a front view of the compression shirt illustrated in FIG. 8 with the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips, the right and left oblique rear elastomeric strips, as well as the right and left oblique front elastomeric strips attached.

[0031] FIG. 10 is an alternative rear view of the compression shirt illustrated in FIG. 8 with the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips, the right and left oblique rear elastomeric strips, as well as the right and left oblique front elastomeric strips attached.

[0032] FIG. 1 1 is a front view of a compression shirt, according to an embodiment, with right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips and a front x-shaped elastomeric panel attached.

[0033] FIG. 12 is a rear view of the compression shirt illustrated in FIG. 1 1 with the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips and a rear x-shaped elastomeric panel attached.

[0034] FIG. 13 is a right-side view of the shirt illustrated in FIG. 10 with the right vertical sleeve elastomeric strip, the right and left oblique rear elastomeric strips, as well as the right and left oblique front elastomeric strips attached.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] Throughout the following description, specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the invention. However, the invention may be practiced without these particulars. In other instances, well known elements have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Accordingly, the

specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative, rather than restrictive, sense.

[0036] Referring first to FIG. 1, one embodiment of the compression shirt configured in accordance with the principles of the present invention is denoted generally herein by the numeral "33". Shirt 33 has a front portion 2, a rear portion 4, and right and left sleeve portions 1 and 3 respectively. Front and rear portions 2, 4 are attached to one another at right and left side seams. Right sleeve portion 1 is attached to front and rear portions 2, 4 at right front and rear oblique seams 1 1, 13. Left sleeve portion 3 is attached to front and rear portions 2, 4 at left front and rear oblique seams 12, 14. Right and left front oblique seams 1 1, 12 are shown in FIG. 3. Right and left rear oblique seams 13, 14 are shown in FIG. 4.

[0037] The shirt 33 may be long- or short-sleeved. The shirt may be made of a wicking or thermal material and may include a zipper or other fastening device to help the wearer put the shirt on. According to one embodiment, the shirt material may be a thinner wicking material to allow for airflow around the heavier elastomeric compression strips.

[0038] The shirt 33 may have a collar 19 which encircles the upper edges of front portion 2, rear portion 4, right and left sleeve portions 1, 3 of shirt 33, a waistband 20 which encircles the lower edges of front portion 2 and rear portions 4, and right cuff 17 and left cuff 18 formed by the lower edge of right and left sleeve portions 1, 3 respectively, although neither collar 19, waistband 20, nor cuffs 17, 18 are strictly necessary to the practice of the invention.

[0039] As shown in FIG. 1, the shirt of the present invention includes a first plurality 5 of elastomeric strips of fabric extend vertically along the right sleeve portion 1 from cuff 17 to collar 19, while a second plurality 6 of elastomeric strips of fabric extend vertically along the left sleeve portion 3 from cuff 18 to collar 19. As described above, the seams of the shirt 33 may be used as anchor points for the elastomeric strips to the shirt body.

[0040] As shown in FIG. 2A, a third plurality 7 of elastomeric strips of fabric extend diagonally across rear portion 4 from right front oblique seam 1 1 (see FIG. 1) to an upper part of left side seam 16, while a fourth plurality 8 of elastomeric strips of fabric extend diagonally across rear portion 4 from left front oblique seam 12 (see FIG. 1) to an upper part of right side seam 15. The upper parts of left and right side seams 16, 15 are in close proximity to sleeve portions 1, 3. It is not essential to the invention that strip 7 originate precisely at seam 1 1 and terminate precisely at seam 16, or strip 8 originate precisely at seam 12 and terminate precisely at seam 15, but strips 7, 8 must extend substantially across the entirety of rear portion 4.

[0041] According to another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, the third plurality 7 of elastomeric strips of fabric may extend diagonally across rear portion 4 from right front oblique seam 1 1 to a lower part of left side seam 16, while a fourth plurality 8 of elastomeric strips of fabric may extend diagonally across rear portion 4 from left front oblique seam 12 to a lower part of right side seam 15. The lower parts of left and right side seams 16, 15 are in closer proximity to the waistband 20. Whether the third and fourth plurality 7, 8 of elastomeric strips extend to the upper or lower parts of right and left side seams 15, 16 depends on the angle of the diagonal extension of the strips. The angle may be selected depending on which area of the wearer's upper body is to be compressed and/or the size of the wearer.

[0042] As shown in FIG. 1, a fifth plurality 9 of elastomeric strips of fabric extend diagonally across front portion 2 from right rear oblique seam 13 (see FIG. 2A) to a lower part of left side seam 16, while a sixth plurality 10 of elastomeric strips of fabric extend diagonally across front portion 2 from left rear oblique seam 14 (see FIG. 2A) to a lower part of right side seam 15. It is not essential to the invention that strip 9 originate precisely at seam 13 and terminate precisely at seam 16, or strip 10 originate precisely at seam 14 and terminate precisely at seam 15, but strips 9, 10 must extend substantially across the entirety of front portion 2.

[0043] The strips 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 may be made of any elastomeric material, known in the sewing and fabric arts simply as "elastic". Adjacent strips of fabric are preferably attached to one another along their lengths, and most preferably are sewn together with stitching to form a plurality of strips of elastomeric fabric.

[0044] According to one embodiment, the strips of elastomeric fabric may be in a diagonally criss-crossing configuration. Even more particularly, the inventor has recognized that while shirt 33 could be made with a plurality of fabric strips extending diagonally at any angle relative to side seams 15, 16, a certain range of "steepness" of such strips provides better results. The inventor has determined that strips 7, 8 may extend diagonally across rear portion 4 at an angle between 15-75 degrees, and strips 9, 10 may extend diagonally across front portion 2 at an angle between 15-75 degrees, while strips 5, 6 extend vertically along sleeve portions 1, 2

respectively.

[0045] Although it will be appreciated to those skilled in the art that any number of strips of fabric could be employed in place of the strips shown in the figures, one embodiment employs two strips for each of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth pluralities of strips for ease of construction and to provide enhanced limitation of certain movements.

[0046] As shown throughout the figures, sleeve portion of shirt 33 may have right sleeve 1 terminating with cuff 17 and left sleeve 3 terminating with cuff 18. Right sleeve 1 has a right side seam 15, and left sleeve 3 has a left side seam 16. Each of sleeves 1 , 3 may generally be configured to extend at least partially down the arm of the wearer.

[0047] FIGs. 5-10 show various other embodiments of the stabilization shirt. FIG. 5 is a front view of the compression shirt with only the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips 5, 6 attached. FIG. 6 is a rear view of the compression shirt illustrated in FIG. 5 with only the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips 5, 6 attached. FIG. 7 is a front view of the compression shirt with the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips 5, 6, as well as the right and left oblique rear elastomeric strips attached 7, 8. FIG. 8 is a rear view of the compression shirt illustrated in FIG. 7 with the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips 5, 6, as well as the oblique rear elastomeric strips 7, 8 attached. FIG. 9 is a front view of the compression shirt illustrated in FIG. 8 with the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips 5, 6, the right and left oblique rear elastomeric strips 7, 8, as well as the right and left oblique front elastomeric strips 9, 10 attached. FIG. 10 is an alternative rear view of the compression shirt illustrated in FIG. 8 with the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips 5, 6, the right and left oblique rear elastomeric strips 7, 8, as well as the right and left oblique front elastomeric strips 9, 10 attached.

[0048] FIG. 1 1 is a front view of a compression shirt, according to an embodiment, with the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips 5, 6, and a front "x-shaped" elastomeric panel 21 attached. The x-shaped panel 21 may be made of a single piece of fabric or multiple pieces of connected fabric.

[0049] FIG. 12 is a rear view of the shirt illustrated in FIG. 1 1 with the right and left vertical sleeve elastomeric strips 5, 6 and a rear "x-shaped" elastomeric panel 22 attached. The x-shaped panel 22 may be made of a single piece of fabric or multiple pieces of connected fabric.

[0050] FIG. 13 is a right-side view of the shirt illustrated in FIG. 10 with the right vertical sleeve elastomeric strip 5, the right and left oblique rear elastomeric strips 7, 8, as well as the right and left oblique front elastomeric strips 9, 10 attached.

[0051] A compression shirt is described which provides specific compression to reduce movement and improve stability in certain areas of a wearer's upper body. Compression may be applied to the wearer's upper body via one or more elastomeric strips of fabric. The strips may be oriented in diagonal and/or overlapping configurations across the shirt. The strips may comprise either a single strip running uniquely, or a plurality of strips in a sequential pattern. According to one embodiment, two groups having approximately three elastomeric strips of fabric overlap across the side portions of the shirt, with one strip extending diagonally across the front portion, one strip extending diagonally across the rear portion, and one strip extending vertically across the side portion of the shirt. The strips extending from the upper portion of one side of the shirt diagonally to the lower portion of the opposite side of the shirt overlap with the corresponding strips from the other side [0052] According to the various embodiments described above, the upper-body stabilization garment may create compression and provide stability and tension to protect injured or recovering muscles and joints. The garment may also be used to prevent shoulder or torso injuries, as well as improving postural control, for daily use, or during sports or training activities such as football, hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, rugby, lacrosse, weight lifting, cricket, basketball, track and field, gymnastics, martial arts, volleyball, soccer, field hockey, Softball.

[0053] As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the aforementioned claims.