Field of the invention

The present invention concerns an adjustable back protection shield system for protecting the back of a wearer from impact and/or penetration. The back protection shield of the invention is suitable for any situation when a back protection shield is desirable, such as motor sports, action sports, horse riding, american football, ice hockey, but is especially suitable for alpine sports, such as down hill skiing or snow board.

Background

Back protection shields are previously known and frequently used in, for example, motor sports such as motorcycle sports and alpine sports, such as down hill skiing. In down hill skiing there are regulations for the allowed equipment for competition. One regulation is that the back protector must be situated in the area of the spinal column and may not go above the 7 ^th cervical vertebrae. Therefore, hardly any back protectors on the market extend above the 7 ^th cervical vertebrae.

Problem Due to this a competitor needs a back protector according to the regulations. But the most sensitive part of the spinal column is the neck part, i.e. above 7 ^th cervical vertebrae. Therefore, competitors would like to use back protectors that extend above 7 ^th cervical vertebrae during practice. Thus they need at least two different back protectors.

Solution

The solution to the above problem is according to the present invention to provide an adjustable back protection shield system with at least a further part of protection shield, which is removably connectable to the back protection shield in its longitudinal direction at least near its ends, the further part having a free end in the connected state, wherein the further part in use is extending above the 7 ^th cervical vertebrae of the wearer' s spine for protecting the neck and/or extending in the lower region of a wearer's spine for protecting the caudal vertebrae of the wearer's spine.

Due to the provision of at least a further part of protection shield one back protection shield may be used on different occasions, for example, competition and practice for a competitor, but also conceivable for a private person wanting to ski off-pist one day, or part of

a day, thus desiring a higher level of protection and the next day skiing in the pists and desiring a lower degree of protection. The back protection shield may thus easily be adjusted to different protection needs for different situations. Conceivable extra protection needs may be protection of the neck and the caudal vertebrae. In order to protect desired areas of the body one or more further protection shield/-s may be attached at suitable positions near the ends, in the longitudinal direction, at the back protection shield, thus making ^' up a system for back protection. Of course this is suitable for any back protection shield irrespective of area of use, such as motor sports, horse riding, action sports and so on.

Another advantage is that the further part/-s of protection shield may be manufactured separately and will not need to be of the same materials as the back protection shield. Injuries to the neck and to the back below the neck are of different kinds. Therefore, different types of protectors are needed for the different portions of the spine. This means that it is possible according to this invention to design a protector concentrated on protecting in the best manner the different areas of the body to be protected, as the neck or the caudal vertebrae, without the need of compromising, due to the different needs of protection of the neck and of the spine below the neck, with other portions of the protector concerning material use and manufacturing aspect, for example.

This will also make it possible to use further protection parts of different levels of protection and/or comfort for different occasions and needs.

A further advantage is that it is easy to adjust the back protection shield according to individual bodily variations. The length, width and so on of the back, neck and so on varies between persons. Thus a further protection shield may be attached at different positions so that it will protrude different lengths from the back protection shield in order to suit the wearer.

A system like this will also be less expensive for the user, who will not need several different, separate back protection shields for different occasions and needs.

Short description of the drawings

The present invention will now be described by a preferred embodiment as an example together with the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a back protection shield with two further parts of protection shield according to the present invention, where the arrows shows that the parts are removably connectable at the back protection shield,

Fig. 2 shows the back protection shield with two further parts of protection shield of Fig. 1 with the further parts connected and showing their free ends,

Fig. 3 shows a further part according to the present invention, and Fig. 4 shows the further part of Fig. 3 in a cross sectional view along the line A in Fig. 3.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention

Fig. 1 shows a back protection 1 shield for protecting the back against impact and/or penetration. The back protection shield 1 may be of any type, for example any already known on the market or a new type. It can be attached to a wearer's body by straps 2 over the shoulders and straps 3 around the waist, as is common today, or in any other way, in order to protect the spine. The back protection shield comprises for example both impact energy absorbing material and a harder shell provided for penetration protection. Preferably, the harder shell is constituted by at least two parts connected by hinge/-s in order to achieve a better correspondence to the movements of the spine of the wearer.

In Fig. 1 there is also shown two further parts 4 and 5 of protection shield, which both are removably connectable to the back protection shield 1. In the shown embodiment the further parts are removably connectable in the longitudinal extension of the back protection shield 1, i.e. in the direction of the extension of the spine of a wearer.

The top part 4 is attachable to the region of the back protection shield 1 which in use is in the upper region of the wearers spine and the bottom part is, vice versa, attachable in the lower region of the back protection shield 1. The top part 4 is supposed to protect- at least a portion of the neck and the bottom part 5 is supposed to protect the lowest portion of the spine, such as the caudal vertebrae. When connected the further parts show free ends 11.

The back protection shield may be provided with one or more further parts of protection shields. It does not matter which of the further parts that are used and in which order. It is up to the wearer to decide from time to time if to wear any, one or both and which portions of the body to protect.

In Fig. 2 the two further parts 4, 5 of protection shield of Fig. 1 are connected to the back protection shield 1. In Fig. 3 and 4 a further part of protection shield is shown. In this example the further part has a supporting structure 6, impact energy absorbing material 7 and some portions of harder shell 8 for protection against penetration. It should be noted that this is only an example of a further part and the design and function may vary according to which area of the body to protect and to which level of protection that is desired, for example.

A portion 9 of the further part of protection is provided for removable connection with the back protection shield 1. The type of connection could be Velcro, a "snap-on connection" such as a spring tongue engaging in a recess in the back protection shield (or vice versa) , straps, screws or any other conceivable way which gives a removable connection.

Preferably, the back protection shield 1 is provided with several connection points 10 for each further part of protection in order to personalise the length of the protection so as to suit the wearer. Due to this the connection can be done at one of these connection points 10 and thus the further part will protrude from the back protection shield 1 different lengths depending on which connection point 10 is used. Of course the opposite is conceivable where the connection points 10 are provided on the further part.