JPH09206347A - Short lower limb orthosis and evaluation device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a short lower limb orthosis suitable for a disabled degree, a walking condition, etc., by equipping a means to detect the correction power generated at a support device from the tension acts on between feet or lower limbs and adjusting a variable damper. SOLUTION: Each one end of support columns 6 and 7 to support a lower limb orthosis member 2 fit on the lower limb of a disabled person is tiltably attached by hinge pins 4 and 5 to a foot orthosis member 3, and a back bending support unit 8 and a bottom bending support unit 9 are attached to lower thigh mounting member 2. When the lower thigh mounting unit 2 is tilted caused in the bottom bending direction B, the back bending support unit 8 generates correction force in the opposite direction F, and a correction force detecting sensor 40 to detect the acting tension force to detect the correction force is mounted between wires 10a and 10b. The bottom bending support unit 9 caused correstion force in the direction B opposite to the back bending direction F when the lower limb orthosis member 2 is tilted in the back bending direction F, and a correction force detecting sensor 41 to detect the acting tension force to detect the correction force is mounted between the wire 11a and 11b.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention evaluates an orthosis for a short leg and an orthosis for a short leg that is worn by a handicapped person who has an ankle joint and has difficulty walking to wear the leg and foot. The present invention relates to an evaluation device that does.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a short leg orthosis having a structure in which a variable damper and a spring are interposed between the lower leg and the foot has been described in "Proceedings of the 10th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics" (Vol. 10, (Published September 30, 1994) pp.195-196 "Damper
A trial of AFO having a spring function ”.

By wearing the ankle foot orthosis, the ankle joint can be corrected, that is, the relative speed between the lower leg and the foot can be controlled, and the movements in the dorsiflexion and plantar flexion directions can be smoothly controlled. is there. Further, the force for correcting (hereinafter, referred to as correcting force) can be changed by adjusting the variable damper according to walking conditions (flat land, climbing downhill, climbing stairs).

This short leg brace (AFO: Ankle F
The details of the boot orthothosis) are shown in FIG. Reference numeral 1 denotes an ankle foot orthosis, and this ankle foot orthosis 1 is a lower leg attachment member 2, which is attached to a lower leg of a disabled person by a belt (not shown),
A pillar 6 that supports the foot mounting member 3 and the lower leg mounting member 2 that are mounted on the foot of the handicapped person by the belt B, and has one end attached to the foot mounting member 3 so as to be tiltable by the hinge pins 4 and 5. , 7, the side portion S of the foot mounting member 3 is pulled by the wire 10 to generate a correction force opposite to the plantar flexion direction B in which the lower leg mounting member 2 tilts to generate the foot 3 of the lower leg mounting member 2. A dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 for controlling the relative speed with respect to
The heel portion H of the foot attachment member 3 is pulled by the wire 11 to generate a correction force that is opposite to the dorsiflexion direction F in which the leg attachment member 2 tilts, and the relative speed of the leg attachment member 2 with respect to the foot 3 is generated. Is composed of a plantar flexion assisting unit 9 for controlling.

In the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8, as shown in FIG. 9, a variable oil damper 15 and a compression coil spring 16 are provided.
Is provided. Specifically, a mounting base 20 for mounting the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 on the lower leg mounting member 2, a cylinder 23 fixedly supported by brackets 21 and 22 on the mounting base 20, and slidable in the cylinder 23. Guided piston 24, cylinder 23 connected to piston 24
, A cylinder chamber A and B filled with oil, which is composed of a cylinder 23 and a piston 24, a communication passage 26 communicating between the cylinder chambers A and B, and the piston 24. The opening 27 of the communication passage 26 for changing the moving speed of the flange 25, the flange 29 fixed to the one end 25a of the shaft 25 by a bolt 28, the flange 29 and the bracket 21.
Compression coil spring 16 provided between the shaft 2 and the shaft 2
The wire 10 provided on the other end 25b of the bolt 5 to the bolt 31a.
And a hollow wire guide 32 that is attached to one end of the mounting base 20 and slidably guides the wire 10.

With this configuration, for example, when the weight shifts while walking, one end 25 of the shaft 25 is fixed by the fixing member 31.
When the wire 10 attached to b is pulled, FIG.
At, the shaft 25 moves downward. At this time, the compression coil spring 16 provided between the flange 29 attached to the other end 25a of the shaft 25 and the bracket 21 is compressed, and the oil filled in the cylinder chamber B is moved along with the downward movement of the piston 24 so that the orifice 27 is filled with oil. Through passage 26
Through which the piston 24 moves, the piston 24 moves at a speed proportional to the opening of the orifice 27.

That is, if the opening of the orifice 27 is widened, the moving speed of the piston 24 becomes faster and the moving speed of the shaft 25 downward becomes faster, so that the correction force becomes weak. Conversely, if the opening of the orifice 27 is narrowed, the speed at which the shaft 25 moves downward becomes slower and the correction force becomes stronger. When the wire 10 is no longer tensioned, the compression spring 16
Force moves the shaft 25 upward in FIG. At this time, a check valve (not shown) provided on the piston 24 opens, and the shaft 25 moves to a position where it balances the force of the compression spring 16 and stops.

By adjusting the correction forces of the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 in this way, the relative speeds of the lower leg and the foot during walking can be changed, so You can move smoothly. Since the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 has the same configuration as the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 described above, a description thereof will be omitted.

[0009]

In such an orthosis for short legs, since the walking assist is performed by exerting the corrective force, the corrective force must be the minimum necessary.
As a result, this corrective force may affect the human body. However, there is no device for detecting what kind of correction force is generated in the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 and what kind of relationship they have, and there is no device for evaluating it. Under the present circumstances, the orifice 27 is adjusted and the correction force is changed based on the sensory judgment of the disabled person wearing the brace.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the ankle foot orthosis of the present invention, an auxiliary device including a variable damper and a spring is interposed between the lower leg and the foot of the ankle foot orthosis. By generating a correction force and controlling the relative speed between the lower leg and the foot, an assisting force was applied to the dorsiflexion and plantar flexion movements of the short leg brace during walking. In the short leg orthosis, a correction force detecting means for detecting the correction force generated by the auxiliary device from the tension acting between the auxiliary device and the foot part or the lower leg part is provided.

In the short leg orthosis evaluation apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, an assisting device consisting of a variable damper and a spring is interposed between the lower leg and the foot of the short leg orthosis to generate a correction force, and the lower leg and the lower leg. By controlling the relative speed between the legs, the evaluation device for the short leg limb orthosis was designed to give an assisting force to the movements of the dorsoflexion and plantar flexion of the short leg limb during walking. The correction force detecting means for detecting the correction force, the sampling means for sampling the correction force detected by the correction force detecting means at a predetermined time interval, the transmitting means for transmitting the data of the correction force sampled by the sampling means, and the transmitting means. The present invention is characterized by comprising a receiving means for receiving the transmitted correction force data and a display means for displaying the correction force data received by the receiving means in a graph.

A third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the sampling means of the second aspect includes a buffer means for temporarily storing the sampled correction force data. (Operation) In claim 1, by the correction force detecting means,
Since the correction force generated by the auxiliary device can be detected, this correction force data (correction force detection value) can be taken into various data analysis devices.

According to the present invention, the correction force detection means detects the correction force generated by the auxiliary device provided between the lower leg and the foot. The correction force can be sampled at predetermined time intervals by the sampling means, and the correction force data obtained by sampling the correction force is transmitted by the transmission means. The correction force data received by the reception means is transmitted by the display means, and the correction force data is displayed in a graph, so the change in the correction force can be visually confirmed, and the variable damper of the auxiliary device can be adjusted based on this graph. Easy adjustment of the correction force.

In the third aspect, the buffer means provided in the sampling means temporarily stores the sampled correction force data, so that a plurality of sampling data can be collectively transmitted to the receiving means through the transmitting means. As a result, it is not necessary to match the transmission cycle of the transmission means with the sampling cycle of the sampling means.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall view of a short leg orthosis according to an embodiment of the present invention. This short leg brace is worn by a person with a disability in the ankle joint from the lower leg to the foot, and the details are as follows. The same parts as those described in the conventional art are designated by the same reference numerals.

Reference numeral 1 denotes an ankle foot orthosis, a lower leg attachment member 2 attached to the lower leg of the disabled person with a belt (not shown), and a foot attachment member 3 attached to the foot of the disabled person with a belt B. Is shown. The lower leg attachment member 2 is supported by columns 6 and 7, and one end of the columns 6 and 7 is attached to the leg attachment member 3 by hinge pins 4 and 5 so as to be tiltable.

A dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and a plantar flexion assisting unit 9 are attached to the lower leg attachment member 2. In this dorsiflexion assisting unit 8, the lower leg mounting member 2 is in the plantar flexion direction B.
When tilted to, the correction force in the direction F opposite to the plantar flexion direction B is generated. That is, the correction force generated by the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 is transmitted to the side portion S of the foot attaching member 3 by the wires 10a and 10b, and the foot attaching member 3
Acts to lift the toe I of the lower leg, and the lower leg attachment unit 2
The relative speed when the foot mounting member 3 tilts is controlled. Further, a correction force detection sensor 40 is provided between the wires 10a and 10b to detect the correction force generated by the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 by detecting the tension acting between the wires 10a and 10b. .

The plantar flexion assisting unit 9 is adapted to generate a correction force in a direction B opposite to the dorsiflexion direction F when the lower leg attachment member 2 tilts in the dorsiflexion direction F. That is, the correction force generated by the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 is transmitted to the heel portion H of the foot mounting member 3 by the wires 11a and 11b, and acts so as to lift the heel portion H of the foot mounting member 3 and The relative speed at the time of tilting of the part attachment part 2 and the foot attachment member 3 is controlled. Also, these wires 11a and 11b
A correction force detection sensor 41 that detects the tension acting between the two and detects the correction force is provided.

The details of the configuration of the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 are shown in FIG. The details of the configuration of the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 are also the same, and the description thereof will be omitted. The dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 includes a variable oil damper 1 which is a source of correction force.
5 and a compression coil spring 16, and is attached to the lower leg mounting member 2 via a mounting base 20.

A cylinder 23, which is one of the members forming the variable oil damper 15, is supported and fixed by brackets 21 and 22. A piston 24 is slidably guided in the cylinder 23, and the cylinder 23 is fixed. The cylinder chambers A and B are formed by the piston 24 and the piston 24. A shaft 25 is attached to the piston 24 so as to penetrate both ends of the cylinder 23.

The cylinder chambers A and B are filled with oil,
A communication passage 26 that bypasses the cylinder chambers A and B is provided. An orifice 27 that can adjust the opening of the communication passage 26 is provided in the communication passage 26. By adjusting the opening of the communication passage 26 with the orifice 27, the moving speed of the piston 24 can be changed. A flange 29 is fixed to one end 25a of the shaft 25 with a bolt 28, and the compression coil spring 16 described above is provided between the flange 29 and the bracket 21. Further, a fixing member 3 for fixing the wire 10b to the other end 25b of the shaft 25 with a bolt 31a.
1 is attached.

A wire 10b is attached to one end of the mount 20.
A hollow wire guide 32 for slidably guiding is provided. As shown in FIG. 3, details of the correction force detection sensors 40 and 41 are a cylinder 82 composed of a cylindrical member 80 and a lid member 81, a piston 83 slidably guided in the cylinder 82, a cylinder 82 and a piston 83. And a pressure detector 90 attached to the cylinder 82 for measuring the pressure change of the silicone oil enclosed in the cylinder chamber 84.

The one cylindrical member 80 constituting the cylinder 82 has a cylindrical guide surface 8 for guiding the piston 83.
5, an opening 86, an opening 87, and a pressure introducing passage 88 for transmitting a pressure change in the cylinder chamber 84 to the pressure converter 90. The piston 83 is a cylinder 8
It is provided with a protrusion 89 which is slidably guided on the same axis as 2 and extends through the opening 87 of the cylinder 82 to the outside of the cylinder 82.

The wire 10a is fixed to the lid member 81, and the wire 10b is fixed to the protruding portion 89. When tension is applied between the wires 10a and 10b, the cylinder 82 and the piston 83 are connected to each other. 10a, 10
The pressure in the compression direction that reduces the volume of the cylinder chamber 84 is generated by relatively moving in the same axial direction as the pulling direction of b.
The silicone oil sealed in the cylinder chamber 84 is compressed. The pressure applied to the compressed silicon oil is transmitted to the pressure detector 90 via the pressure introduction passage 88, the pressure proportional to the tension of the wires 10a and 10b is detected, and the detected pressure is output as a correction force. There is.

With the above configuration, each correction force generated by the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and plantar flexion assisting unit 9 of the short leg orthosis 1 is detected, and the detected correction force data is analyzed by various measuring instruments, personal computers, etc. Since the orifices 27 of the respective units 8 and 9 can be adjusted based on the analysis result obtained by the data analysis device by the device, it is possible to provide the short leg orthosis 1 according to the degree of obstacle, walking condition and the like.

Next, an evaluation device for a short leg orthosis according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is an overall view of an evaluation device for a short leg brace. Corrective force detection for detecting the corrective force generated by the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and plantar flexion assisting unit 9 as described above in the short leg orthoses 1 worn by a person with a disability on the ankle joint from the lower leg to the foot. The sensors 40 and 41 are provided, and the correction force data detected by the correction force detection sensors 40 and 41 are input to the data transmission unit 50.

In the transmission unit 50, the input correction force data is sampled at a predetermined cycle and is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 51, and the detected correction force value is transmitted to the reception unit 60 at a cycle longer than the sampling cycle. I do. Since the transmission unit 50 has the buffer memory 51 as described above, it is not necessary to synchronize the sampling period with the period received by the receiving unit 60.

The receiving unit 60 transfers the transmitted correction force data to the data analysis device 70, and the data analysis device 70 displays the correction force data as a graph. In the above configuration, using the evaluation device for a short leg brace shown in FIG.
An example of evaluating the short leg brace will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 4, the data analyzer 70 analyzes the correction force of the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 until the disabled person wears the short leg orthosis 1 on the right foot and steps on the right foot until the left foot touches the ground. FIG. 5 shows a graph display by.

In FIG. 5, a is a correction force generated by the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and b is a correction force generated by the plantar flexion assisting unit 9. In FIG. 5, the vertical axis represents the correction force,
The correction force generated by the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 uses the scale A, and the correction force generated by the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 uses the scale B. The origin of the scales A and B (zero point) By vertically shifting, two types of correction forces can be displayed on the same screen with their time axes aligned.

From the graph display shown in FIG. 5, the change in the correction force generated by the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 at the time of walking and their mutual relationship can be seen at a glance. By adjusting the opening of the orifice 27 and displaying the change in the correction force again in the form of a graph,
Corrective force can be adjusted according to walking conditions. For example, the graph display of the data analysis device 70 when the openings of the orifices of the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 are both narrowed is shown in FIG. From this graph display, it can be seen that the correction force of each of the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 is a ′, b ′, and the correction force is high.

As described above, based on the graph display of the data analysis device 70, the opening degrees of the orifices 27 of the dorsiflexion auxiliary unit 8 and the plantar flexion auxiliary unit 9 are adjusted to correct the dorsiflexion and plantar flexion directions. The correction force can be adjusted to a degree suitable for the degree of obstacle, walking condition, etc. by displaying the graph of the change in the correction force again and adjusting the opening of the orifice 27.

In FIG. 7, foot switches (not shown) are attached to the toe side and heel side of the surface of the foot attachment member 3 of the short leg orthosis that comes into contact with the ground, the ground contact state of the toe and heel, the dorsiflexion assisting force and plantar flexion. In this example, the assisting force is displayed simultaneously on the same screen. In FIG. 7, a ″ is a correction force generated by the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8,
b "is a correction force generated by the plantar flexion assisting unit 9, c is a state of a foot switch attached to the toe side (ON is a state where the toe is grounded, OFF is a state where the toe is not grounded), d Indicates the state of the foot switch attached to the heel (ON and the heel are in contact with the ground, OFF indicates the heel is not in contact with the ground).

By displaying such a graph, it becomes possible to analyze the corrective force more accurately, and it becomes possible to adjust the corrective force to suit the degree of obstacle, walking condition and the like.
As described above, it is possible to detect the correction force generated by the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 that generate the correction force in the plantar flexion direction and the dorsiflexion direction of the short leg orthosis 1. In addition, when adjusting the orifices 27 provided in the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and the plantar flexion assisting unit 9, the correction force generated by the dorsiflexion assisting unit 8 and the plantar flexion assisting unit 9 can be displayed in a graph. The corrective force can be evaluated based on. Furthermore, since the result of adjusting the orifice 27 can be immediately understood from this graph display, it becomes possible to adjust the correction force according to the degree of obstacle, walking condition and the like.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, the correction force generated by the auxiliary device including the variable damper and the spring interposed between the lower leg and the leg of the short leg brace is detected and detected. The corrective force data obtained is taken into a data analysis device such as a measuring device or a personal computer, and the variable damper of the auxiliary device can be adjusted based on the analysis result of this data analysis device, so that the short leg brace suitable for the degree of obstacle, walking condition, etc. Can be provided.

Further, the correction force generated by the auxiliary device is detected, sampled at predetermined time intervals and transmitted, the transmitted correction force data is received, and the correction force data is visually displayed on the display device. Since it can be displayed as a graph, it is possible to evaluate the short leg brace for adjusting the short leg brace to suit the degree of obstacle, walking condition, etc.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an ankle brace according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a dorsiflexion assisting unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a correction force detection sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an evaluation system for ankle foot orthosis according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a dorsiflexion assisting force and a plantar flexion assisting force are simultaneously displayed in a graph on the same screen by the evaluation system for ankle foot orthosis according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the dorsiflexion assisting force and the plantar flexion assisting force are simultaneously displayed in a graph on the same screen by the evaluation system for ankle foot orthosis according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the dorsiflexion assisting force and the plantar flexion assisting force according to the ground contact state of the foot are simultaneously displayed as a graph on the same screen by the evaluation system for ankle foot orthosis according to the embodiment of the present invention. Is.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a conventional short leg orthosis.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a conventional dorsiflexion assisting unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Short leg orthosis 2 Lower leg attachment member 3 Foot attachment member 8 Back refraction auxiliary unit 9 Bottom refraction auxiliary unit 10a, 10b Wire 11a, 10b Wire 15 Oil damper 16 Compression coil spring 27 Orifice 40, 41 Corrective force detection sensor 50 data Transmission unit 60 Receiver 70 Data analysis device

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Koji Sanaka, No. 1 Mitsukanyama, Yatomi-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya-shi 2 Inside the Nagoya City General Rehabilitation Center (72) Inventor Yoshie Suzuki, Mt. Mitsukan, Yatomi-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya-shi No. 1 2 Inside Nagoya City Rehabilitation Center

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A correction force is generated by interposing an auxiliary device composed of a variable damper and a spring between the lower leg and the leg of the short leg brace, and the relative speed between the lower leg and the leg can be controlled. By doing so, in the short leg orthosis which is designed to give an assisting force to the movements of the dorsoflexion direction and plantar flexion direction of the short leg orthosis during walking, the correction force generated by the assist device is applied between the assist device and the foot. Alternatively, an orthosis for short legs which is provided with a correction force detecting means for detecting from a tension acting between the lower legs. 2. A correction force is generated by interposing an auxiliary device consisting of a variable damper and a spring between the lower leg and the foot of the short leg brace, and the relative speed between the lower leg and the foot can be controlled. By doing so, in the evaluation device of the short leg orthosis that was to give an assisting force to the movements in the dorsiflexion direction and plantar flexion direction of the short leg orthosis during walking, a correction force detection means for detecting the correction force, and Sampling means for sampling the correction force detected by the correction force detection means at a predetermined time interval, transmission means for transmitting correction force data of the correction force sampled by the sampling means, and correction transmitted by the transmission means An evaluation device for ankle foot orthosis, comprising: a receiving unit that receives force data; and a display unit that graphically displays the correction force data received by the receiving unit. 3. The evaluation device for ankle foot orthosis according to claim 2, wherein the sampling means includes buffer means for temporarily storing the sampled correction force data.