For the treatment or therapy of venous diseases or disorders, devices for intermittent compression of human body extremities find application. For this purpose, a pressure, having an effect on the extremity to be treated, is built up and reduced intermittently, i.e. with interruptions, by means of a cuff applied around the extremity to be treated. The extremity to be treated is usually totally accommodated in a large-volume single-chamber system, which is subsequently rhythmically pressurized. One such system is known from DE 704 510. Devices used nowadays are based on the multi-chamber principle, in which several cuff chambers are pressurized along the extremity to be treated in sequence distally to proximally to assist the return flow of body fluid in the direction of the heart. Configuring a multi-chamber system such that the return flow is assisted by a continuous pressure wave guided along the extremity is likewise known.
Known from EP 0 329 470 A2 is a portable pump device for a multi-chamber system. To pressurize the cuff chambers in sequence in a simple manner, a compression chamber with outlets is proposed, the number of which corresponds to the number of cuff chambers, the same number of valves being actuated in sequence in the compression chamber by means of a camshaft.