1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a noninvasive medical instrument used to provide therapy to external skin surfaces of a patient, particularly skin surfaces which are difficult to access, such as skin areas covered by a cast or other prosthetic device.
2. Description of Prior Art
Patients, doctors and therapists use many different relatively bulky instruments to access skin areas of patients that are otherwise inaccessible due to interfering casts, prosthetic devices or other similar structures or wound dressings. Many instruments for scratching inaccessible dry and irritated skin surfaces are inappropriate for the intended use. For example, patients often use pencils, rods or other relatively small instruments to position between a cast and an inaccessible skin surface, resulting in dropping the inappropriate instrument into the cast, often requiring removal of the cast to retrieve the inappropriate instrument.
Also, skin surfaces having cuts, abrasions or other skin wounds that require medication can only be accessed by removing a cast.
Other inappropriate instruments, such as coat hangers, sticks and the like, used to provide physical therapy or medicine to such inaccessible areas have sharp edges, points or other structural features that can puncture, cut or otherwise harm a skin surface.
It is apparent that there is a need for a rigid yet flexible instrument that provides a safe abrasive surface for scratching or massaging an inaccessible skin surface. It is apparent that there is a need for a noninvasive medical instrument that can deliver a drug or medicine to an inaccessible cut, abrasion or other skin wound. It is apparent that there is also a need for a noninvasive medical instrument that can carry, deliver or otherwise provide a swab to an inaccessible skin area.