Therapeutic wave mattress

Claim 1

A therapeutic mattress providing a generally rectangular mattress supporting surface with a length that is generally longer than its width, comprising: a resilient pad dimensioned to generally conform to the rectangular shape of the mattress supporting surface; first and second upstanding walls of deformable material secured in positions along each lateral side of said resilient pad; a plurality of patient supporting inflatable tubular elements, the length of each said tubular element approaching the width of the mattress supporting surface, said tubular elements being positioned in side by side relationship and transversely oriented to span the distance between said first and second walls; ends of said inflatable tubular elements having a pair of vertically spaced first and second hook-and-loop fastening strips, and each of said walls having means to releasably secure each of said hook-and-loop fastening strips in vertically spaced positions relative to the respective wall; a plurality of air pressure sources; an air control for sequentially varying the pressure outputs of said air pressure sources form a low level to a higher level and then returning to said low level and repeating the said variation; air conduits for connecting a group of longitudinally spaced tubular elements to each said air pressure source so that each tubular element of a group may be periodically pressurized from a low level to a higher level and back to a low level by said varying pressure output of the respective one of said air pressure sources connected to said groups; and said control being adapted to time said pressure variations of said air pressure sources to occur sequentially, thereby creating a wavelike deformation of the patient supporting surfaces of said tubular elements traveling along the length dimension of the mattress.