According to one aspect of the present invention a leg sling includes a proximal and a distal end, the sling including at least two spaced supports arranged, in used, to extend upwardly in a convergent direction with the supports supporting the sling.

Both supports may be arranged to extend, in use, towards each other at an angle to the vertical.

Both supports may be arranged to be suspended from a common location. At least one and preferably both supports may be located towards or at a proximal or distal region or at the proximal or distal end of the sling.

The sling may be flat in its normal condition of flexure with the sling being arranged to partially surround a leg when supporting a leg.

The present invention also includes two leg slings each having any of the above referred to features or limitations. One sling may be arranged to be for the femur of the leg and may be arranged to be spaced from the knee joint. The other of the slings may be arranged to support a lower portion of the leg and may be spaced from the knee joint and may provide support for the tibia or

tibia and ankle or the tibia and foot or the ankle, tibia and foot. The supports of both slings may be arranged to be suspended from a common location.

According to another aspect of the present invention a leg sling support arrangement includes one sling for the upper region of a leg and another sling for the lower region of the leg, each sling including at least one support with supports from each sling extending in a convergent direction.

A support from each sling may extend at an angle to the vertical.

At least one support from each sling may suspend the slings from a common location.

The leg sling arrangement may include any of the features referred to in accordance with the first aspect of the invention that relates to the leg sling and vice versa.

The leg sling for the lower region of the leg may include at least one releasable fastener arranged to assist in causing the sling to extend at least partially around a part of a leg.

The or each leg sling may include a resilient or a compressible or a foam portion or any combination thereof arranged to extend at least partially around a part of a leg. When the sling includes foam that foam may be more than 5 mm or more than 10 mm or less than 30 mm or less than 20 mm or in the region of 15 mm thick. The foam may be flexible between its distal and proximal ends and may

also afford some resistance to bending between those ends such that, in use, support for a leg is able to be provided between two spaced supports for the sling.

According to a further aspect of the present invention a method of supporting at least part of a leg comprises locating a sling under the posterior part of the leg and supporting the sling with at least two spaced supports that extend upwardly from the leg in a convergent direction.

The method may comprise locating the sling beneath a leg with the sling being generally flat and then causing the sling to extend around at least part of the leg by the sling flexing as the spaced supports support the sling.

According to another aspect of the present invention a method of supporting at least part of a leg comprises locating two spaced slings under the posterior of the leg, a first sling supporting an upper region of the leg and a second sling supporting the lower region of the leg, the method comprising supporting the first and second slings with supports that extend upwardly in a convergent direction.

According to a further aspect of the present invention a method of using a leg sling includes supporting a part of the leg with a sling with the sling including at least one fastener to assist in the sling surrounding the portion of the leg, the method comprising reducing the effect of the fastener such that easy access can be gained to the part of the leg that the sling surrounds.

The method may comprise subsequently increasing the effect of the fastener.

The present invention includes any combination of the herein referred to features or limitations.

The present invention can be carried into practice in various ways but several embodiments will now be described, by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 is a plan view of a femur sling 10 for a patient in a laid flat position; Figure 2 is a plan view of a tibia and foot sling 12 for a patient in a laid open flat position, and Figure 3 is a side view of the lower half of a patient showing the slings supporting the leg.

The slings 10 and 12 are made from foam which is approximately 15 mm deep and which is resilient and compressible and lies flat in its normal condition of flexure.

The sling 10 includes, at each end, straps 14 that are secured by sewing to the foam and which are spaced from each other. Each strap 14 is of the same length and they converge at their ends remote from the foam where they are connected to suspension rings 16.

The foam of the sling 12 includes a region 18 that is arranged to support the tibia of a patient and a region 20

that is arranged to support the foot of a patient. Two straps 22 are secured to extend from the side parts of the end of the region 18 which meet, at their remote ends, and are connected to a suspension ring 24. Two straps 26 extend from the side of the region 20 and are secured thereto. The remote end of the straps 26 are connected to a ring 28. In addition, two fastening strips 30 extend from the underside of the region 18 and a fastening strap 32 extends from the region 20. These straps are arranged to be detachably connected to fasteners 34 on the opposite side to the strips such that the regions 18 and 20 can be releasably connected by the strips such that the foam at least partially surrounds the lower leg of a patient. The releasable fastening may be achieved by hook and eye fasteners.

As shown in Figure 3, the patients'knee joint 36 is bent slightly and is exposed. The sling 10 supports the femur 38 at a location spaced from the distal and proximal ends of the femur. The sling 12 is spaced from the knee and provides support for the tibia 40, ankle 42 and posterior of the foot 44. Whilst the foam is flexible between its distal and proximal ends, the foam is also able to provide support for the leg between the proximal and distal straps of each sling.

The rings 16,24 and 28 are each suspended from a fixed hook 46 such that complete support for the leg is provided. As the rings take the weight of the leg the foam is bent partially around the leg.

The hook 46 is located vertically above the leg at a location. above the knee region. In alternative

embodiments (not shown) the sling 10 could be supported by a hook vertically above a region such as a mid region of the sling 10 with the sling 12 being suspended as shown in the drawing or by the sling 12 being supported by a hook above the sling 12 such as the mid region of the sling 12 with the sling 10 being supported as shown in the figure or both slings could be supported by a hook above the respective slings or any combination thereof.

In the position shown it can be seen that the knee is placed in compression as a result of the vectors 46 on the straps.

It can also be seen that either of the slings can be removed from the hook with the leg achieving partial support from the other sling for inspection of a wound for instance. In addition, the fastening of strips which normally retain the lower part of the leg simply snugly can be detached to allow for inspection or dressing of a wound.

With the leg sling a bed pan can easily be used with, if necessary, the sling 10 at least being raised slightly for the insertion and removal of the pan.

Attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment (s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.