Study of an arm model for compression sleeve design and garment pressure measurement

Abstract

Compression garments apply garment pressure to suppress growth and flatten hypertrophic scars caused by serious burns. In order to reduce the pain caused by a trial-made compression garment for burn patients, one of the most studied parts of the human body, the arm, was selected as the research object, and the characteristics of an arm model that could be used for compression sleeve design and garment pressure measurement were studied. Five human arm models were made based on three-dimensional-printing technology, and then a compression sleeve was made based on Laplace’s law. After that, the garment pressures that the compression sleeve applied on the five human arm models and on a real human arm were tested. Finally, the garment pressure magnitudes and the distribution on a real human arm and on each arm model were compared and analyzed. The results show that when other conditions were consistent, the garment pressure on the arm model was inversely proportional to the hardness of the model, and the garment pressure magnitudes and the distribution on the model whose hardness was close to that of a real human arm were very similar to those of a real human arm. Moreover, consistent with the previous research results, the garment pressure of the compression sleeve that was made based on Laplace’s law increased with the increase of the arm circumference, and it decreased with decreasing circumference. The results of this study can provide a reference for the exploration of a mannequin that can substitute for a real human body in the design of compression garments.