JPH069618B2 - Electrical stimulator - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electrical stimulation device.

Electrical stimulators such as low-frequency therapy devices that provide electrical stimulation to the living body to relieve stiff shoulders and treat massage, etc., promote treatment by giving reversible changes to the muscular nervous system. All of these are merely stimulating effects on one component of the living body, and electrical stimulation is currently performed without considering biological activities such as blood circulation.

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electric stimulator in consideration of biological activities such as blood circulation.

The characteristics of the present invention in consideration of blood circulation are as follows.

Blood is pushed out into the arteries by the pulsation of the heart, passes through the capillaries to the veins, and returns to the heart.

Electrical stimulation is said to have the effect of stimulating the periphery of blood vessels or the muscles that compose blood vessels and contracting them. This effect is beneficial in the sense that it promotes blood circulation when it acts on a non-pulsating vein, but on the other hand, when it acts on the artery during the pulsatile phase due to the contraction of the heart, it reverses the blood flow. Results in the inhibition of.

Based on such knowledge, the present invention provides a phase (time phase) showing a systole and / or a diastole in a signal obtained from a living body in waveforms such as an electrocardiogram (FIG. 2) and a pulse wave (FIG. 3). ) Is detected, and electrical stimulation is applied in the diastolic time phase.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

(1) is an output means, which outputs a pulse wave, an alternating wave, or the like having a frequency and an amplitude that can be used for electrotherapy. More specifically, the output waveform described in the low frequency treatment device JISC6310 (issued by Japan Industrial Standards Association) is exemplified.

Furthermore, in addition to the low-frequency treatment device (Japanese Patent Application No. 57-226499).
It is also possible to use as an output means (1) an electric stimulator utilizing an interference wave as exemplified in Japanese Patent Application No. 107799/1983 and Japanese Patent Application No. 33377/1978.

Reference numeral (2) is a discriminating means, which extracts an electrocardiogram or a blood flow signal from the biological signal input from the input unit (4), and based on the amplitude, time, phase, etc. of the signal, the time phase described above. Is detected and the signal corresponding to it is output.

Specifically, for example, (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 175979/1982, 57/60604, 58/48203, 61/61)
The pulse wave is detected by the method described in Japanese Patent No. 188705) and the time phase of the pulse wave is obtained.

Alternatively, (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 32680/1978, 32682/1972)
No. 152, JP-A No. 152581, JP-A No. 45734/1986, and JP-A No. 203946/1983), the electrocardiogram is detected to determine the time phase of systole.

(3) is a switching means for turning on / off the connection between the output means (1) and the conductor (5) by the output signal of the discrimination means (2).

The input part (4) is an electrode or a sensor, and its shape is
It can be appropriately used depending on the object to be detected, such as one by sticking or one by mechanical coupling that sandwiches an earlobe.

The guide part (5) is connected to an affected part or a treatment site, and may be attached, used by being embedded in a living body, or fixed by a band or the like.

Next, of the above-described embodiments, the operation in the case of performing detection by detecting an electrocardiogram or a pulse wave will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

An electrocardiogram signal (Fig. 2 (a)) or a pulse wave signal (Fig. 3) is input from the input section (4) to the discriminating means (2). The discriminating means (2) detects the systolic phase and the diastolic time phase from the electrocardiogram signal or the like ((a) in FIG. 2 to (2a) in FIG. 3).
(2b)). Of these, in the present embodiment, during the diastole (2b), the pulse (FIG. 2 (b)) is output from the discriminating means (2) toward the switching means (3). The switching means (3) is closed by this pulse, and the stimulus output (FIG. 2 (c)) output from the low frequency stimulus output means (1) is applied to the living body via the conductor (5).

That is, low frequency stimulation is applied to the conductor (5) only when the switching means (3) is closed. Although various modes can be considered for the low-frequency stimulus as described above, the waveforms shown in FIGS. 2D to 2E are shown as a more specific example.

In addition to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the present invention may have an integrated configuration in which the operation of the low frequency stimulation signal is started or stopped by the output signal of the discriminating means.

As described above, the present invention has an effect of promoting blood circulation by electrical stimulation, and has effects such as elimination of stiff shoulders and overcoming various obstacles associated with a decrease in biological activity.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an output waveform diagram showing the operation of each component of FIG. FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram showing the pulsation of an arterial wave. 1 ... Low-frequency stimulus output means, 2 ... discrimination means, 2a ... systole, 2b ... diastole, 3 ... switching means, 4 ... input section, 5 ... conductor section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An electrical stimulator comprising: a discriminating means for discriminating and detecting a time phase associated with the pulsation of a heart from a biological signal; and an output means for outputting an electric stimulus during the diastolic time phase.