JP2003135607A - Low frequency medical treating system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform an effective low frequency medical treatment without electric shock pains. SOLUTION: This low frequency medical treating system is equipped with a signal wave-generating unit 1, a carrier wave-generating unit 2, a modulation processing unit 9, and an output unit 12. In this case, the signal wave-generating unit 1 generates a signal wave of a low frequency medical treatment frequency. The carrier wave-generating unit 2 generates a carrier wave having a frequency higher than the low frequency medical treatment frequency of the signal wave. The modulation processing unit 9 outputs a medical treatment wave signal Sc which is formed by amplification-modulating the carrier wave by the signal wave. The output unit 12 outputs an electric current of the wave shape of the medical treatment wave signal Sc by amplifying the medical treatment wave signal Sc as a low frequency medical treatment electric current.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention provides low-frequency treatment by passing an appropriate low-frequency treatment current to affected areas such as nerve and muscle lesions located in the deep, middle and superficial parts of the human body. The present invention relates to a low frequency treatment device to be performed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of low-frequency treatment device supplies a low-frequency treatment current having a frequency, polarity, and waveform set according to the disease to be treated, to one or more pairs of treatment electrodes and indifferent electrodes. Low-frequency treatment is performed by flowing into the affected area between and.

At this time, the treatment electrode is pressure-bonded or attached to the affected part, and the indifferent electrode is attached to the part away from the affected part, for example, the back of the thigh or the gastrocnemius muscle (calf) by being bound, pressure-bonded or attached.

After these electrodes are attached, the polarities of both electrodes are set so that the therapeutic electrodes have polarities suitable for the contents of treatment such as pain and paralysis of nerves and muscles.

After the polarity is set, the treatment is started and an appropriate low frequency treatment current is passed through the affected area.

The low frequency treatment frequency range of the low frequency treatment current is several Hz to 1 KHz, which is effective for treatment.

[0007]

The conventional low-frequency treatment device of this type outputs a low-frequency treatment current having a low-frequency treatment frequency of several Hz to 1 KHz.

The therapeutic current of 1 KHz or less stimulates the motor nerve and exerts a high therapeutic effect, but at the same time, it strongly acts on the sensory nerve and causes severe electric shock pain.

Therefore, the conventional low-frequency treatment device of this type has a problem of causing pain to the patient.

When an electric current is applied to a subcutaneous nerve or muscle,
Since the subcutaneous fat layer and the skin impedance electrically form a parallel circuit of resistance (R) and capacitance (C),
The higher the frequency of the current, the easier it is for the current to flow, and the lower the frequency, the harder the current will flow.

Since direct current flows only through resistance (R) and is difficult to flow through the skin and fat layer, it has not been used for treatment in recent years.

Further, since a high-frequency current of several KHz to several + KHz hardly acts on the sensory nerve, even if this high-frequency current is passed through the affected area, strong electric shock pain does not occur, but at the same time, it affects the motor nerve. Since there is no stimulating effect, little therapeutic effect can be expected. Therefore, several KHz to several + K
The relatively high frequency currents of Hz have not been used for effective low frequency therapy.

The present invention, in the low-frequency treatment of subcutaneous nerve and muscle diseases, does not have the strong electric shock pain that always occurs in the conventional low-frequency treatment with an electric current of 1 KHz or less, and can be applied to the deep, middle, and superficial portions of the skin. An object of the present invention is to provide a low frequency treatment device capable of effectively treating existing nerve and muscle diseases.

[0014]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a low frequency treatment device according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a signal wave generator for generating a signal wave of a low frequency treatment frequency, and a signal wave generator having a frequency higher than the signal wave. A carrier wave generation unit that generates a carrier wave, a modulation processing unit that outputs a treatment wave signal that is formed by amplitude-modulating the carrier wave with a signal wave, and a treatment wave signal is amplified, and a waveform of the treatment wave signal is generated as a low frequency treatment current. And an output unit that outputs a current.

Therefore, the waveform current of the treatment wave signal flowing through the affected area becomes a current having a waveform in which a signal of a higher frequency than that of the conventional low frequency treatment current is modulated to modulate the signal of a higher frequency. .

In this case, the current flowing through the affected area has a low frequency of the low-frequency treatment frequency and exerts a sufficient motor nerve stimulating effect. On the other hand, due to the high frequency change, the current easily flows through the subcutaneous nerves and muscles. , The effect on the sensory nerves is small, and the electric shock pain is relieved significantly.

Therefore, it is possible to carry out effective low-frequency treatment for nerve / muscular diseases located in each layer under the skin without strong electric shock.

Further, the low-frequency treatment device according to a second aspect superimposes and combines the therapeutic wave signal of the modulation processing unit on the carrier wave signal of the carrier wave generating unit, and outputs a signal obtained by superimposing the therapeutic wave signal on the base signal of the carrier wave signal. The superimposition processing unit is provided to supply the unit.

Therefore, in this case, the current flowing through the affected area is the current obtained by multiplying the current according to claim 1 by the high-frequency base current of the carrier signal, and more effective low-frequency treatment depending on the disease. Can be applied.

In the low-frequency treatment device according to claims 1 and 2, the range of the low-frequency treatment frequency is from several Hz to 1 KHz with a motor nerve stimulating effect, and the carrier signal is from several KHz with less electric shock pain. Most preferably, it is a signal of several + KHz.

When the signal wave and the carrier wave signal are rectangular wave pulse signals, and the amplitude modulation of the modulation processing section is intermittently performed by a binary change of the carrier wave rectangular wave pulse signal and the signal wave rectangular wave pulse signal, Each part in the device can be formed by a simple pulse signal circuit or logic gate circuit.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, in this mode, the low-frequency treatment frequency is set to 1 kHz or less (several Hz to 1 kHz), which has a conventional effect of motor nerve stimulation, and the frequency of a carrier signal higher than this frequency (transcutaneous carrier frequency). KHz to number + KHz, which has almost no effect on sensory nerves
5KHz, 10KHz, 20KHz within the frequency range of.

Further, the frequencies of the signal wave and the carrier wave can be switched and selected according to the treatment content and the like.

In order to form the signal wave of the selected frequency and the rectangular wave pulse signal of the carrier wave, the low frequency treatment apparatus of this embodiment has the signal wave generator 1, the carrier wave as shown in the circuit block diagram of FIG. It has a generator 2.

These generators 1, 2 are crystal oscillators 3, 4
, For example, a rectangular wave oscillation output of 30 KHz to 640 KHz is divided by frequency dividers 5 and 6, and the frequency divider 5 connects each contact 7 ′ of the frequency changeover switch 7 with, for example, 3 in the low frequency treatment frequency range.
Hz, 15Hz, 30Hz, 50Hz, 100Hz, 250Hz, 5
Output square wave pulse signal of 00Hz, 1KHz signal wave,
The frequency divider switch 6 outputs the rectangular wave pulse signal of the carrier of 5 KHz, 10 KHz and 20 KHz to the contact 8'of the carrier output of the frequency changeover switch 8.

In order to enable continuous output of a low-frequency treatment current of 1 KHz or less as in the conventional case, the changeover switch 8 is provided with a contact point 8'of each carrier wave output and a contact point 8 "of no signal output. To be

Then, the frequency changeover switch 7 is changed over according to the contents of the disease, the frequency changeover switch 8 is changed over according to the diseased part of the nerve or muscle, and the frequency selected by the changeover of the switch 7 is shown in FIG. The rectangular wave pulse signal Sa of the signal wave shown in (a) and the rectangular wave pulse signal Sb of the carrier wave shown in (b) of the same figure of the frequency selected by switching the switch 8 are supplied to the modulation processing unit 9. To be done. The modulation processing unit 9 is composed of, for example, an AND gate, and by the binary change of the rectangular wave pulse signal Sa of the signal wave,
The rectangular wave pulse signal Sb of the carrier wave is intermittently applied, and the carrier wave is digitally amplitude-modulated by the signal wave to form the therapeutic wave signal Sc shown in FIG. 2C. 2 (a) is 100Hz
The rectangular wave pulse signal Sa of the signal wave of FIG.
Indicates a rectangular wave pulse signal Sb having a carrier of 5 KHz.

The therapeutic wave signal Sc shown in FIG. 2C is
It is a voltage signal having a waveform in which a rectangular wave pulse signal Sb of 5 KHz is intermittently changed by a binary change of the rectangular wave pulse signal Sa of 100 Hz.

The therapeutic wave signal Sc is normally sent to the amplifier 13 of the output section 12 via the intermittent wave selecting contact 10 'of the signal selecting switch 10 and the normal output contact 11' of the signal selecting switch 11.

The amplifier 13 has the functions of voltage amplification, power amplification and output adjustment. After amplifying the input therapeutic wave signal Sc to a predetermined therapeutic voltage, the power is amplified to the therapeutic wave signal S.
An appropriate magnitude output of the waveform of c is supplied to the affected area between the conductors 15 ′ of the treatment electrode 15 and the conductor 16 ′ of the indifferent electrode 16 via the polarity switcher 14.

At this time, the treatment electrode 15 is pressed or attached to the skin surface directly above the affected area or the tender point, and the indifferent electrode 1
6 is pressed or attached to the skin surface at a site as far away from the affected area as possible.

The conductors 15 'and 16' are generally formed by attaching lead wires, connection plugs and the like to the treatment electrode 15 and the indifferent electrode 16.

Further, the polarity switcher 14 includes electrodes 15 and 16
The polarity of the treatment electrode 15 or the indifferent electrode 16 is switched so that the current flowing through the affected area via the electrodes becomes a positive current or a negative current according to the treatment condition. Specifically, for paralysis, a positive current is applied to the affected area. For pain, a negative current is passed through the affected area.

The current flowing through the affected area becomes the current having the waveform of the therapeutic wave signal Sc shown in FIG. 2 (c).

In this case, the current flowing through the affected area is 100
It has a low frequency of Hz and exerts a sufficient motor nerve stimulating effect, while the intermittent high frequency of 5 KHz makes it easy to flow through subcutaneous nerves and muscles, reduces the effect on sensory nerves, and significantly causes electric shock pain. Will be alleviated.

Therefore, the deep layer, the middle layer, and
Low-frequency therapy for the treatment of nerve and muscle pains, atrophy, paralysis and other nerve / muscle diseases located in the superficial part is effectively and painlessly performed.

By the way, the low-frequency treatment current is switched from the so-called intermittent waveform current in FIG. 2C to the superimposed waveform current described below, depending on the treatment content and the like.

That is, the low frequency treatment apparatus of this form is
A superposition processing unit 17 is provided to which the carrier wave signal Sb output from the carrier wave generation unit 2 and the intermittent wave treatment wave signal Sc of the modulation processing unit 9 are input.

The superposition processing unit 17 is formed by, for example, an operational amplifier, performs amplitude correction on one or both of the carrier wave signal Sb and the treatment wave signal Sc, and corrects the carrier wave signal Sb after the treatment. The wave signal Sc is superimposed and synthesized,
The therapeutic wave signal Sd having the waveform shown in FIG. 3 is formed.

The therapeutic wave signal Sd has an amplitude E equal to the signal Sb.
After being corrected to the signal of s, the signal Sc is added to the signal with the amplitude E.
The signal is a signal obtained by superimposing a corrected signal on the signal of m and then increasing the signal. In other words, it is a waveform in which the amplitude of the signal Sb of the carrier wave is intermittently varied from Es to Es + Em in the cycle of the signal wave.

The amplitudes Em and Es are usually Em ≧ Es
And, for example, Em: Es = 8: 2.

When the therapeutic wave signal Sd is selected instead of the therapeutic wave signal Sc based on the treatment content and the like, the signal selection switch 10 is switched to the superimposed wave selection contact 10 ", and the therapeutic wave signal Sd is selected. It is supplied to the output section 12 via the switches 10 and 11, and via the amplifier 13 of this output section 12 and the polarity switcher 14 to the affected area between the electrodes 15 and 16,
The low-frequency treatment current having the superimposed waveform of is passed.

At this time, a base current of 5 KHz continuously flows through the affected area, and the current flowing through the affected area periodically increases and changes at a period of 1/100 second during that time, especially in the case of a disease such as paralysis. More effective low frequency treatment can be performed.

Next, when a low-frequency treatment current having the waveforms of the treatment wave signals Sc and Sd is continuously passed, a phenomenon such as a reduction in treatment effect may occur due to a phenomenon of so-called habituation. Therefore, the low frequency treatment device of this embodiment includes the intermittent control unit 18.

The control section 18 causes the oscillator 19 to generate an intermittent timing signal Se which changes binary by a set intermittent output cycle in seconds or minutes.

Further, the treatment wave signals Sc and Sd output from the signal selection switch 10 and the intermittent timing signal Se are used.
Are input to the intermittent gate 20 having an AND gate configuration, and the therapeutic wave signals Sc and Sd are applied to the intermittent output contact 11 ″ of the signal selection switch 11 only during the ON period or the OFF period of the intermittent timing signal Se by the gate 20. Output.

When the signal selection switch 11 is switched to the intermittent output contact 11 "by selecting the intermittent output,
The therapeutic wave signal S intermittently output from the intermittent gate 20
c and Sd are given to the output unit 12, and the treatment wave signals Sc and S
The low-frequency treatment current having the waveform of d flows through the affected part intermittently, and it is possible to prevent a decrease in the treatment effect due to the phenomenon of habituation and to perform effective treatment.

By the way, when the frequency changeover switch 8 of the carrier wave generator 2 is switched to the contact 8 ", the carrier wave signal Sb is not output from the carrier wave generator 2 and the power supply terminal 21 is used instead.
The high level signal of (logic “1”) is output to the modulation processing unit 9, and at this time, the rectangular wave pulse signal Sa of the signal wave selected by the frequency changeover switch 7 of the signal wave generation unit 1.
Is supplied to the amplifier 3 of the output unit 12 from the modulation processing unit 9 via the signal selection switches 10 and 11, or via the signal selection switch 10, the intermittent control unit 18, and the signal selection switch 11, and a signal wave is transmitted to the affected area. The low frequency treatment current having the waveform of (1) is passed continuously or intermittently, and the low frequency treatment similar to the conventional one can be performed.

The switching of the switches 7, 8, 10 and 11 is performed by the operator's manual operation or automatic operation (sequence control) based on the selection of the treatment mode.

Next, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the generation unit 1,
Although the signal wave and the carrier wave rectangular wave pulse signals Sa and Sb are output from the signal generator 2, the signal wave and carrier wave signals output from the generators 1 and 2 may be sine wave or triangular wave signals. In this case, the modulation processing unit 9 is formed with an analog amplitude modulation frequency, and the therapeutic wave signal formed by the modulation processing is, for example, (a), (b) in FIG. 4 or (c) in FIG.
As shown in (d).

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the generating units 1 and 2 are used.
A signal wave having a plurality of frequencies and a carrier wave signal are formed by the above, and the signal selected by the signal selection switches 7 and 8 among these signals is output. There may be one type of carrier wave.

The signal of the signal wave of the generator 1 is 1K.
The signal of the carrier wave of the carrier wave generator 2 is preferably in the frequency range of 5 KHz to 20 KHz, but it may be a signal of a suitable frequency higher than the signal wave. , For example, the signal of the signal wave is several Hz ~
The carrier wave signal may be 1 KHz at several 100 Hz.

Next, in the above-described embodiment, the superposition processing section 17 is provided, and the intermittent treatment wave signal Sc and the superposition wave treatment wave signal Sd of the modulation processing section 9 are switched by switching the signal selection switch 10. Signal Sc,
Although the low frequency treatment current having the waveform of Sd is selectively passed through the affected area, the superposition processing section 17 and the signal selection switch 10 are provided.
The configuration may be such that only the low-frequency treatment current having the waveform of the treatment wave signal Sc of the modulation processing unit 9 is passed to the affected part by omitting.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the intermittent control section 18 and the signal selection switch 11 are provided in order to prevent the deterioration of the therapeutic effect due to habituation. However, these may be omitted. .

Of course, each unit in FIG. 1 may have various analog or digital circuit configurations.

[0056]

The present invention has the following effects. First, since the low-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 includes the signal generator 1, the carrier wave generator 2, the modulation processor 9, and the output unit 12, the therapeutic wave signal Sc output from the output unit 12 and flowing through the affected area is provided. It is possible to modulate the high-frequency signal by the low-frequency signal of the conventional low-frequency treatment current to obtain a current having a waveform such as intermittent waveform.

In this case, the current flowing through the affected area exerts a sufficient motor nerve stimulating effect by the low frequency change of the low frequency treatment frequency, while the high frequency change easily flows through the subcutaneous nerves and muscles. , With less effect on sensory nerves,
Electric shock pain can be significantly reduced.

Therefore, it is possible to provide a so-called painless and effective low-frequency treatment for a nerve / muscular disease located in each layer under the skin without strong electric shock.

Next, since the low-frequency treatment apparatus of claim 2 is provided with the superposition processing section 17, the current flowing through the affected area is a current obtained by superposing the current of claim 1 on the base current of the carrier wave signal Sc. Depending on the disease, more effective low frequency treatment can be given.

Next, the low-frequency treatment device according to claim 3 is the low-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the low-frequency treatment frequency of the signal wave is several Hz to 1 which has a motor nerve stimulating effect.
Since it is a low-frequency signal of KHz and the frequency of the carrier wave is several KHz to several + KHz with less electric shock pain, the signal wave and the carrier wave are made into frequencies that are extremely practical and effective, and painless and extremely effective low-frequency treatment is performed. Can be realized.

Next, the low frequency treatment apparatus of claim 4 is the low frequency treatment apparatus of claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the signal wave and the carrier wave signal are rectangular wave pulse signals Sa and Sb, respectively. Since the modulation processing unit 9 intermittently modulates the carrier wave with the signal wave to perform amplitude modulation, each unit can be formed by a simple pulse signal circuit or a logic gate circuit. It is possible to provide a low frequency treatment device having the effects of the second or third aspects.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block connection diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 (a), (b) and (c) are waveform diagrams of the signal wave, carrier wave and therapeutic wave signal of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram of an output signal of the superposition processing unit 17 in FIG.

4 (a), (b), (c) and (d) are waveform diagrams of other examples of the therapeutic wave signal.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Signal wave generator 2 Carrier generator 9 Modulation processing unit 12 Output section 15 Treatment electrode 16 Indifferent electrode 17 Superposition processing section Square wave pulse signal of Sa signal wave Sb Carrier wave square wave pulse signal Sc, Sd therapeutic wave signal

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A low-frequency treatment device for supplying a low-frequency treatment current to a diseased part between a treatment electrode and an indifferent electrode, wherein a signal wave generation part for generating a signal wave of a low-frequency treatment frequency, and A carrier generation unit that generates a high-frequency carrier wave, a modulation processing unit that outputs a treatment wave signal that is formed by amplitude-modulating the carrier wave with the signal wave, and amplifies the treatment wave signal as the low-frequency treatment current. ,
An output unit that outputs a current having a waveform of the treatment wave signal. 2. A superposition processing unit for superimposing and combining a therapeutic wave signal of a modulation processing unit with a carrier wave signal of a carrier wave generating unit and supplying a signal obtained by superimposing the therapeutic wave signal on a base signal of the carrier wave to an output unit. The low frequency treatment device according to claim 1, wherein 3. The low frequency treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the low frequency treatment frequency is several Hz to 1 KHz, and the frequency of the carrier wave is several KHz to several + KHz. 4. The signal wave and the carrier wave signal are rectangular wave pulse signals, and the amplitude modulation of the modulation processing section intermittently interrupts the rectangular wave pulse signal of the carrier wave by a binary change of the rectangular wave pulse signal of the signal wave. The low-frequency treatment device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, which is performed.