A process of normalizing soft tissue in a human subject by a therapist includes the steps of locating dysfunctional soft tissues in the body of the subject, lightly palpating the area in such a way as to detect restrictions in the skin, detecting rope-like barriers or patterns, sensing the potential movement of the patterns, allowing the presence of the therapist's fingers to stimulate movement of the patterns, following the movement with the fingers of the therapist without applying substantial...

Venous blood flow in a non-ambulating human leg is involuntarily promoted in a repeating cycle of successively actuated venous pumps, in imitation of the pump-actuating sequence which characterizes normal walking. Specifically, in the preferred embodiment, the proximal calf pump and the distal calf pump are operated, in that sequential order, following a given operation of the foot pump and prior to the next successive operation of the foot pump.

The invention contemplates a non-invasive technique and apparatus for artificially stimulating the venous-return flow of blood from the foot by inducing fast-rising pulsed squeezing or necking-down of the vessels of the venous-pump mechanism within the foot. The stimulation results from transient flattening of the plantar arch, in that an induced transient spread of the heel with respect to the ball of the foot stretches, and therefore necks-down involved blood vessels; stimulation also results ...

Disclosed is a high frequency omni-directional 2-way power divider which includes one input terminal and two output terminals so that a signal inputted through the input terminal is uniformly distributed to the two output terminals. The high frequency omni-directional 2-way power divider includes: a first Wilkinson regular divider including one input terminal and first and second output terminals; a second Wilkinson regular divider including one input terminal and third and fourth output termina...

Apparatus for applying fluid pressure at spaced, predetermined locations on a foot or hand including a cabinet of multi-wall construction having an interior for accommodating the hand or foot. A plenum formed by the walls of the cabinet is pressurized with a fluid to direct the fluid into contact with the hand or foot. Suitable structure is provided to position the hand or foot at a predetermined location within the interior spaced from the apertures.

A device for applying compressive pressures to a patient's limb having a sleeve for placement on the patient's limb, with the sleeve having a plurality of chambers arranged longitudinally along the sleeve including a monitored chamber, a device responsive to a control signal for forming a fluid under pressure, a device for generating said control signal, a device for selecting a predetermined value of said control signal by the generating device to select a desired predetermined pressure by the ...

An inflatable/deflatable compression device, such as, a sleeve or cuff for use in simulating blood circulation in the limbs. The compression device is designed for use with a source of cyclical fluid pressure to provide alternating inflation and deflation cycles of the device. The compression device has at least one inflatable/deflatable fluid chamber. A safety bleed hole fluidly couples the interior of the fluid chamber to the exterior so that fluid pressure will be released from the at least o...

A method for accelerating the alleviation of fatigue resulting from muscular exertion in a body limb wherein the limb is mechanically subjected to a succession of compression waves each of which progresses in a venous direction, with successive waves following substantially continuously on each other, the compressive pressure exerted on a limb portion at any instant in time ranging substantially from 40-70 mm Hg.

In a program of regular vascular exercise involves repeating cycles of blood movement, for example, each vascular exercise period of one hour may involve twenty cycles. In each cycle pressurizing apparatus under control of a timing arrangement inflates and deflates a series of pressure cuffs around each limb, for example, each limb has seven cuffs. The cuffs at the limbs are inflated in sequence starting with the cuff nearest the limb extremity to provide a peristaltic-like action. The inflation...

A vibrational method and apparatus for accelerating and increase in efficiency of passage of stones from the ureter comprises introducing into the ureter (U) of a catheter (10) with a vibrating head (12) which imparts radial oscillations to the walls of the ureter at a distance of 0 to 30 mm from the areas where the stone (S) is lodged. Catheter (10) is a flexible tube which has a head (12) which is expandable radially and axially by means of an oscillating element (24) driven from a reciprocati...