This invention relates to support harness for a chair for supporting the pelvis, hips and sacrum of a chair user to provide postural support to the chair user.

Young children, and adults who have physical disabilities will often have difficulty is finding seating which is suited to their needs. Seating can play a very large role in the lives of such children and adults due to their disabilities, and is often an integral part of many daily activities such as feeding, playtime, school, therapy, independence, mobility and general interaction with family and friends. Unsuitable seating will cause discomfort and therefore distraction, and due to the length of time spent sitting, can begin to seriously affect the quality of life for such individuals. There are however a large number of challenges to be faced when trying to accommodate pelvic positioning while seated, for example rotation, pelvic tilt, medial alignment and obliquity. "Rotation" of the pelvis arises when a child is not sitting with their pelvis square in the chair. The base of their back is not aligned with the chair back. Rotation may present as a shortening of one upper leg or as "wind sweeping". If a chair cannot accommodate shortening the pelvis may be pulled forward on the shorter side. If a chair cannot accommodate a child's wind sweep their upper legs often have to be positioned straight forward in parallel. This also pulls the pelvis out of alignment into rotation.

Many individuals with such special needs have not been able to benefit from activities such as crawling, sitting, standing, walking or normal development milestones. These activities normally help development from the foetal curve to the secondary and tertiary curvatures of the spine. This can often result in them sitting on their sacrum, known as "pelvic tilt". They will do this to lock out the spine, which gives them a stable position.

Medial alignment of the pelvis is also very important, as is the accommodation or correction of obliquity, where a child presents with pelvis in a lateral tilted position.

Special needs children will often require physical therapy in order to work on postural needs, whether resulting from flexible or fixed deformity.

While chairs have been developed with cushioning to help encourage correct posture and mitigate the abovementioned problems, the wide variety of shapes and sizes of children and adults with special needs renders such chairs unable to be suited to all sizes of users and the high cost of such chairs makes it impractical to provide a large number of different sized chairs to suit different sized children. According to the present invention there is provided a support harness attachable to a chair, said support harness being adapted to provide support for the pelvis, hips and sacrum of a chair user, thus providing postural support to the chair user. The support harness can be used in combination with a chair to ensure correct support and posture of children and adults of all sizes. A range of harnesses of different sizes may be provided to enable a wide variety of sizes of person to be correctly supported on a particular chair.

In one embodiment said support harness comprises a base portion adapted to rest on a seat portion of a chair and to be sat upon by the chair user, side portions extending from opposite sides of the base portion to extend on either side of the user's hips, and a back portion extending from a rear side of the base portion to overlie at least a sacral region of the chair user.

Preferably said side portions, or extensions thereof, are adapted to be connected or linked together across the lap of the chair user to secure the harness around the pelvic region of the chair user.

Preferably the harness is provided with chair attachment means to secure the harness to the chair with which it is used. Such attachment means may comprise one or more straps extending from the harness. Preferably the attachment means serves to maintain correct orientation of the pelvis of the chair user.

Preferably said back portion of the harness includes a pair of wing portions extending from either side of the back portion, said wing portions extending forwardly in use and being releasably connectable to said side portions of the harness such that the back portion and side portions of the harness can be fitted around the pelvic region of the chair user to provide postural support for the chair user. Preferably said wing portions are adjustably connectable to said side portions by means of releasable fastening means, such as of hook and loop fasteners.

Preferably extension sections extend forwardly from the side portions of the harness, said extension sections being provided with releasable fastening means, such as a buckle, to be fastened across the chair user's lap to secure the harness around a pelvic region of the user's body. Said extension sections may comprise or incorporate strap portions, said releasable fastening means being provided at distal ends of said strap portions. Said strap portions may be adjustable in length to adjust the fit of the harness. Preferably extensions of said strap portions extend rearwardly and downwardly from the harness to be connectable to the chair to define said chair attachment means to allow the harness to be attached to the chair and to support the user within the chair and maintain correct pelvic orientation of the chair user. Preferably the length of each of said extensions of said strap portions is adjustable to enable the position of the harness, and the chair user, on the chair to be adjusted. Further strap portions may be provided, preferably extending forwardly and downwardly from the side portions and/or extension sections thereof and/or from said strap portions, preferably adjacent the fastening means, said further strap portions being connectable to the chair to further retain the harness and chair user in the correct position and/or orientation on the chair. Preferably said further strap portions are adjustable in length.

The underside of the base portion and/or the back portion of the harness may be attachable to the chair by means of releasable fastening means, such as hook and loop fastening means or attachable strap portions that secure the harness to the seat base. A panel or cover may be provided for fitment to the seat of the chair, said base portion of the harness being securable to said panel or cover by means of said fastening means to retain the harness in place on the chair.

A front region of the base portion of the harness may be provided with a raised pad, defining a gluteal ramp, to prevent the user from sliding forwards on the base portion. Said raised pad may be detachably mounted on the base portion, for example by means of hook and loop fasteners, so that it may be removed if not required.

Preferably said harness is formed from a breathable fabric or textile material, such as a breathable mesh material.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-

Figure 1 is a plan view of a support harness according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the support harness of Figure 1 in an assembled configuration;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the support harness of Figure 1 attached to a chair; Figure 4 is a perspective view of the support harness of Figure 1 showing the attachment of the wing portion of the back portion of the harness to the side portions of the harness;

Figure 5 is a front view of the harness of Figure 1 in its assembled configuration attached to a chair; Figure 6 is a plan view of the harness of Figure 1 in its assembled configuration attached to a chair;

Figure 7 is perspective view of the harness of Figure 1 in its assembled configuration attached to a chair showing the attachment of a gluteal ramp attachment; Figure 8 is a perspective view of the harness of Figure 1 during use in a first stage ready to receive a user; Figure 9 is a perspective view of the harness of Figure 1 during use in a second stage wherein the buckle is fastened over the lap of a chair user; Figure 10 is a perspective view of the harness of Figure 1 during use in a third and final stage wherein the wing portions of the back portion of the harness are attached to the side portions to provide support to the pelvis, hips and sacrum of a chair user and to provide postural support to the chair user; and Figure 1 1 is a side view of the harness of Figure 1 in use.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a support harness 10 is provided for supporting a person on a chair to provide support for the pelvis, hips and sacrum of the chair user and to provide postural support to the chair user, in particular in relation to the orientation of the pelvis. The support harness 10 comprises a fabric body formed ideally, but not exclusively, from a breathable fabric mesh, said body defining a base panel 12 adapted to rest on a seat portion of a chair and to be sat upon by a chair user, side panels 14, 16 extending from opposite sides of the base panel 12 to extend on either side of the seat user's hips, and a back panel 18 extending from a rear side of the base panel 12 to overlie a least a sacral region of the chair user. The back panel 18 includes a pair of wing panels 20,22 extending from either side of the back panel 18. The wing panels 20,22 and side panels 14,16 are provided with cooperating patches of hook and loop fastening material whereby the wing panels 20,22 can be releasably attached to the side panels 14, 16 in overlapping relationship, such that the harness 10 can be fitted around the pelvic region of a chair user to provide postural support for the chair user, as will be described below in more detail.

As shown in the drawings, straps 24,26 are respectively attached to each side panel 14,16 of the harness 10 extending from a rear side of the base panel 18, forwardly and upwardly to terminate in a buckle 28 to enable the harness 10 to be fastened across the lap of the chair user to retain the chair user in the chair to and retain the harness 10 around the pelvic region of the chair user. Extensions 30,32 of the side panels 14, 16 of the harness 10 support the straps 24,26 and provide padding around the straps 24,26 to rest over the lap of the chair user.

Rear portions 34,36 of the straps 24,26 extend rearward ly from the base panel 12 of the harness 10 to be attachable to the chair to secure the harness 10 to the seat of the chair and to retain the chair user in the correct position on the chair. The rear strap portions 34,36 are adjustable in length to enable the position of the harness 10, and thus the chair user, to be adjusted on the chair. The mounting of the buckle 28 on the straps 24,26 may also be adjustable to enable the fit of the harness 10 to be adjusted. Further front straps 38,40 extend forwardly from a front region of the harness 10 to be attachable to a forward region of the chair to secure the harness 10 onto the chair and to ensure that the chair user is held in the correct position on the chair. Loops 42,44,46 are attached to upper edges of the back panel 18 and side panels 14, 16 of the chair to allow the harness 10 to be positioned more easily around the user.

A further panel of hook and loop fastening material may be provided on a lower side of the base panel 12 of the harness 10 and a panel or seat cover (not shown) having a cooperating region of hook and loop fastening material may be fixed or fastened to the base of the seat to further assist in securing the harness 10 to the seat.

As shown in Figure 7, a padded panel 48, comprising a gluteal ramp, may be secured to a front portion of the base panel 12 of the harness 10 to prevent the user from sliding forwards on the base panel 12. The gluteal ramp 48 may be detachably mounted on the base panel 12 by means of cooperating patches of hook and loop fastening material, so that it may be removed if not required.

The use of the harness 10 is illustrated in Figures 8 to 1 1. Initially the harness 10 is opened out in the configuration shown in Figure 1 and is placed on a chair with the base panel 12 resting on the seat base and the back panel 18 resting against the seat back, as shown in Figure 8. The free ends of the straps 34,36,38,40 may be attached to the chair.

The user then sits upon the base panel 12 and the side panels 14, 16 of the harness 10 are raised and wrapped around the hips of the user and the buckle 28 is fastened over the lap of the user, as shown in Figure 9. The connection of the straps 24,26 to be buckle 28 may be adjusted to correctly tension the straps 24,26 over the lap of the user, if required.

The wing panels 20,22 are then brought forwards over the side panels 14, 16 of the harness 10 and are fastened to the side panels 14, 16 by means of the cooperating patches of hook and loop fastening material so that the harness 10 is closely fitted around the pelvic region of the chair user, as shown in Figure 3.

The front and rear straps 34,36,38,40 attaching the harnessl O to the chair are then adjusted to correctly locate the chair user on the chair in the correct postural position and to correctly orient and support the pelvis, hips and sacrum of the chair user. As can be seen from Figure 1 1 , the attachment of the wing panels 20,22 of the back panel 18 of the harness 10 to the side panels 14, 16 of the harness 10 and the location of the straps 24,26,38,40 on the harness ensure that the pelvis of the user is correctly oriented to avoid pressure on the sacrum and to provide correct postural support for the chair user. While some adjustment of the harness 10 is possible due to the adjustable fastening of the wing panels 20,22 onto the side panels 14,16 of the harness 10 and the adjustment afforded by the connection of the straps 24,26 to the buckle 28, the harness 10 is dimensioned for a particular size of user and a range of harnesses of different sizes may be provided to suit different sized users such that a number of different sized users may be correctly supported on a particular chair.

The pelvic harness can also be used in conjunction with an additional thoracic support harness, straps or vest to provide additional support to the user, in particular to support the upper body of the user, more especially to provide thoracic support. Such additional harness may be independently attached to the backrest of the seat and/or may be attached to the pelvic harness via attachment buckles 49 and 50 at the front of the harness and/or by means of loop and hook fasteners, preferably provided at the rear of the harness on panel 18. Additional attachment points may be added to the pelvic harness, if needed, depending on the individual's postural support needs. The invention is not limited to the embodiment(s) described herein but can be amended or modified without departing from the scope of the present invention.