Date: Thu 29-Jan-1998

Publication: Hea

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Koumoutseas-pain-invention

Full Text:

Inventor Hopes To Market Device For Back Pain Relief

(with photos)

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

A Brookfield woman has developed a therapeutic invention intended to provide

low-cost relief to people with lower back pain.

Gilda L. Koumoutseas and her husband were visiting relatives in Greece several

years ago when she spotted some young Grecian children playing with a number

of small multi-pronged plastic disks.

Ms Koumoutseas picked up some of the prickly disks and pressed them into her

hand, feeling a sensation of sharp pressure. Contact with the disks also

produced a sensation of heat due to stimulated blood flow, she said.

Realizing that the sensation of heat is a source of comfort to people with

pain in their lower backs and extremities, Ms Koumoutseas, a nurse, explained

that she then set about developing an invention to take advantage of the

soothing heating effect.

Ms Koumoutseas developed a design prototype in which an asymmetrical array of

disks is affixed to a piece of sturdy fabric. Positioning the disks on fabric

allows the disks to be wrapped around a body part which is experiencing pain,

such as an arm or a leg, to provide a therapeutic effect.

Ms Koumoutseas suggests using a piece of fleece as an adjunct to her invention

to buffer the full pressure generated by contact with the prickly disks. Such

a buffer might be useful for the elderly, she said.

Ms Koumoutseas explained that her long history of back pain led her to develop

the therapeutic device.

"My worst enemy is sitting ... My back is screaming at me," she said.

When driving long distances, she uses the device to alleviate back pain, she

said.

The inventor has named her creation "Accupad," in reference to the techniques

of acupressure and acupuncture which are used for pain relief.

To help her develop, manufacture and market Accupad, Ms Koumoutseas has

enlisted the services of National Invention Services, Inc, of Pawleys Island,

S.C. A patent is pending on Accupad, she said.

The prototype Accupad is rectangular with dimensions of one-half inch tall, 13

inches long, and 7 inches wide. Ms Koumoutseas says she hopes to find a

surgical manufacturer which will make the device. A production version of the

product would be created from a mold.

In its final version, Ms Koumoutseas visualizes Accupad as a pliable plastic

pad having rigid plastic protrusions. With such a design, the user would

position the pad in a flat manner and lie upon it to alleviate back pain, or

could wrap the device around an extremity.

Applying heat to lessen muscular pain is a common home treatment. Accupad

could fit into this home therapy niche, providing heat and stimulation which

are proven methods of providing relief for muscular pain, according to Ms

Koumoutseas.

Ms Koumoutseas hopes to sell Accupad to individuals, hospitals, home health

care services, older adults, arthritis sufferers, chiropractors, physical

therapists and sports medicine specialists.

Because Accupad requires no new technology, its production would be fairly

straightforward, making the device affordable to the general public, in the

range of $20, according to Ms Koumoutseas.