Cervical spine traction apparatus

Claim 1

A cervical spine traction apparatus for use with a door and its upper frame comprising: a. a rigid load spacing crossbar having a pair of clevis members spatially disposed and secured in loose fitting arrangement to said load spacing crossbar substantially fourteen inches from each other, said clevis members having overlapping base members spatially disposed from each other to admit and release loops at the end of a pair of loading straps within said clevis members thereby dividing the load substantially evenly between said loading straps; b. a harness having a chin member adapted to fit under the chin of the patient using said harness and terminating in a pair of vertically extending loading straps having a pair of loops formed at the ends thereof slidable between said overlapping base members to be operably disposed over said overlapping base members, and having a dorsal member secured at each end thereof by stitching to said pair of loading straps and adapted to engage the sub-occipital bone region of the head thereby distributing any load supplied to said loading straps, said chin and dorsal members upon being applied to the head of a patient and extending upwardly and outwardly in contact free relationship with the upper region of the head and being formed from reinforced cotton felt material having widths of approximately 2.75 to 3.00 inches, said stitching forming a triangular pattern having sides at the top and forward edges of the ends of said dorsal member thereby freeing the opposite edges to aid in deforming said dorsal member to the shape of the head of the patient; c. a releasable fastener secured transversely in said dorsal member, said releasable fastener opening and permitting ready insertion of the head of the patient between said chin member and said dorsal member and closing and securing said dorsal member in operable position, d. a pair of load bearing webbing members secured to said load spacing crossbar in substantially parallel and spatially disposed relationship adjacent to said clevis members, said webbing members being adapted to lie flat between the upper edge of a door and its mating frame while the door is closed; and e. a transverse bar releasably secured to said pair of webbing members and adapted to bear against the upper face of the door opposite that of said harness when a predominately vertical load is applied to said pair of webbing members and loading straps.