CA1227632A

CA1227632A - Device for reproducibly ascertaining the posture of a free-standing human being

Info

Publication number: CA1227632A
Application number: CA000445744A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Ulrich M. Landwehr
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1983-01-21
Filing date: 1984-01-20
Publication date: 1987-10-06
Also published as: DE3301864A1

Abstract

DEVICE FOR REPRODUCIBLY ASCERTAINING
THE POSTURE OF A FREE-STANDING HUMAN BEING

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

The device as disclosed includes a plate mounted for direct or indirect support in its center, under conditions permitting tilting of the plate about two horizontal and transversely oriented axis. Any tilting of the plate is ascertained through tension responsive strips providing accordingly to signals representative of imbalance of an individual standing on said plate, presumably in a central position.

Description

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2 THE POSTURE OF A FREE-STANDING HUMAN BEING

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4 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

5 l Thea present invention relates to the reproduction of the 71 posture of a free-standing human being and more particularly the 81 invention relates to a device folk ascertaining data representing 9¦ such posture, the apparatus including facilities for measuring 10¦ uneven posture details. ;

12¦ German petty patent So 26 589.2 describes a device by 13¦ means of which damage to the mobility of the human body, 14¦ particularly as far as orthopedic medicine is concerned, can be 15¦ ascertained and documented. A device of this type is used, or 16¦ example, during therapy or after an operation. The equipment 17 includes photographic as well as X-ray devices. This particular 18 equipment, however, does not provide for the immediate and direct 19 measurement of indications concerning human mobility posture and, possibly, dexterity. In order to obtain evaluation criteria 21 having a certain degree of objectivity, it is not only necessary 22 to acquire measuring data on a quantitative basis but to provide 23 such data and such measurements on a comparable basis. The known 24 equipment establishes two measuring points for the platform on which the person stands which measuring points are provided for 26 by means of strips responding to tension or as sensing devices 27 responding to pressure.

lZZ~632 1 ¦ The known structure is disadvantaged by the fact that 2 ¦ a uniform, ire. balanced, posture of humans it attainable only in 3 ¦ a frontal plane, any deviations being to the let or the right, 4 ¦ but snot simultaneously in the sagittal plane corresponding to 5 ¦ deviations in forward and backward angles. Reproducible

6 ¦ centering of the posture of the human body to one particular

7 ¦ point is therefore not attainable with these known devices.

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9 ¦ Another disadvantage of the known equipment is to be lo ¦ seen in that the direct mounting of the foothold plate on the 11 ¦ measuring element makes them rather sensitive against damage.
12 ¦ Moreover, measuring any imbalance even in the frontal plane only 13 ¦ requires still two measuring points. Moreover, strips responding 14 ¦ to tension are quite expensive and have to be compensated for temperature .

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DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved device for reproducing the posture of a free-standing human being.
; It is a particular object of the present invention to measure imbalance in the posture of human beings in a frontal as well as in a sagittal plane.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided a device for ascertaining reproducibly the posture of a free-standing human being, comprising:
a stand or foot hold plate for supporting a human; a base plate;
a pin of quadrilateral cross section for mounting said stand plate in relation to a central point, as defined by the pin and the stand plate, to said base plate, for permitting tilting of the stand plate on the pin and only about two axes running penal-lot to the sides of the quadrilateral cross section and inter-sooting directly or indirectly in said point; and two tension responsive strain gauges arranged on said pin in 90 degrees offset relation to respond to bending stress and strain of and in the pin, for separately ascertaining tilting of said stand plate about said two axes and providing electrical signals representative thereof, said base plate and said stand or foot hold plate being in horizontal direction pivot ably connected to a third plate.
In an example, the plate is mounted centrally by a tension pin upon which are mounted measuring transducers such as tension strips in a 90 offset orientation so as to ascertain bending of that pin into different directions commensurate with ~'763;~
the desired data to be acquired. Bending of this pin, of course, is the result o-E any unequal load provided by a human being who stands on the plate in an ofE-normal posture. The two measuring strips provide separate signals which are furnished to a circuit which in turn indicates the foot hold plate tilt accordingly.
The plate, of course, should not be permitted to pivot limitless;
there may be one or more limit stops provided in order to avoid undue tilt and pivoting.

1 ¦ DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
2 I .
3 ¦ While the specification concludes with claims 4 ¦ particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject 5 ¦ matter which is regarded as the invention, it is believed that ¦ the invention, the objects and features of the invention and 7 I further objects, features and advantages thereon will be better 8 ¦ understood from the following description taken in connection g ¦ with the accompanying drawings in which:

11¦ Figure 1 is a section through a device constructed in 12¦ accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention 13¦ for practicing the best mode thereof;

15¦ Figure 2 illustrates a section view through Figure l;

16¦ and 18¦ Figure 3 is perspective view of another device still 19¦ constituting a preferred embodiment of the invention.

21¦ Proceeding now to the detailed description of the 22 ¦ drawings, Figure 1 illustrates a stand or foothold plate or 23¦ platform 1 and a base plate 2, the two plates 1 and 2 are 24 ¦ mechanically secured to each other through a flexible or bendable 251 relatively short pin 3. Stops 6 limit the tilt range of plate 1 26 ¦ relative to plate I The connection proper between the pin 3 and 271 the two plates 1 and 2 is not illustrated but the connection is `: -' -6-12Z~6~Z

1 made such that the axis of the pin 3 traverses the centers of the 2 two plates 1 and 2. The two plates 1 and 2, in turn, are a 3 pivotal mounted to a base 4 pivoting being permitted over at 4 least 90. Reference numeral 5 refers to a pivot pin being provided for pivoting particularly the plate 2 so as to orient a 6 person standing on plate 1 in relation to an X-ray or 7 photographic apparatus.

9 Tension strips 7 and 9 are mounted to the rod or pin 3,

10¦ preferably they are attached to that pin through an adhesive.

11¦ These strips 7 and 9 respond to any asymmetric load on plate 1

12¦ tending to bend the pin 3. The strips 7 and 9 are in effect

13¦ measuring transducers, and they are accordingly connected

14¦ electrically to a circuit 8, which includes for example an

15¦ amplifier or several amplifiers to provide signals to a measuring

16¦ instrument and indicator, as shown for example, in the German

17¦ petty patent 82 26 585.2, but such instrumentation is known

18¦ generally. The tension measuring strip 7 will, in fact, respond

19¦ to a bending moment exerted upon the pin 3 about an axis A while the tension strip 9 will respond to a bending moment exerted by 21 the plate 1 upon the pin 3 about the axis B. It can thus be seen 22 that by means of two measuring points angular deviations and 23 tilt of the posture axis of a human standing on the plate 1 from 24 a vertical can be measured in two directions which means that any angular deviation of the posture axis from the vertical can be 26 ascertained; the vertical is defined by the axis through pin 3, 28 normal to plate 2.

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1 Proceeding now to Figure 3, there is illustrated again a 2 foothold plate 1 being the platform on which the individual 3 stands, but this plate is mounted to a somewhat larger base plate 4 2' in to support points and tilt mounts 10 and 11. The plate 2' in turn rests on base 4' also by means ox two mounts 12 and 13.
6 It can thus be seen that the two mounts 10 and 11 are aligned 7 along an axis B whereas the tilt mounts I and 13 are aligned 8 along an axis A. Accordingly, a Cordon mount is established for 9 the assembly 1-2'. This Cordon mount in turn permits deviation of an unbalanced posture of a man standing on plate 1, in that 11 plate 1 may tilt about axis B relative to plate 2, and plate 1 12 and 2 together may tilt about axis A relative to base 4. The 13 measuring points are again established through tension measuring 14 strips 14 and lo or through pressure sensors whereby one ox the sensors is mounted in a corner of plate 1, for example, 16 underneath thereof, and another one of the two sensors is mounted 17 underneath or on top of plate 2. The Cordon mount establishes 18 indirectly a central support point at the point of intersection 19 of axes A & B (or at the point of intersection or a vertical projection or the axes into a common plane).

22 It can readily be seen that one can combine the concepts 23 as depicted 1 and 2 on one hand and Figure 3 on the other hand, 24 by maintaining the concept of a Cordon mount, but by providing in addition a central bending pin 23 by means of which the upper 26 plate 1 is centrally mounted to the base 4. The intermediate 27 plate 2 in this case may be provided merely as a distortion free . I

1 I frame. Moreover, the central bending pin 23 may be provided with 2 ¦ the measuring sensors just as is pin 3 in Figure 1 and 2.
3 ¦ Generally speaking, a Cordon mount was found to improve overall 4 ¦ construction, particularly as far as height is concerned, but 5 ¦ also the weight can be reduced.
6 l 7 ¦ A particularly advantageous construction is a 8 ¦ Cordon mount in accordance with Figure 3 wherein moreover plates 9 ¦ 1 and 2 are interconnected in a mechanically secure manner A
10 ¦ torsion rod 17 running in the direction of the axis B under 11 ¦ utilization of fixed mount 21 on the plate 2. Upon tilting on 12 ¦ plate 1 about axis B, the torsion rod 17 resists but can measure 13 ¦ the degree of deflection For ~nls purpose, a tension measuring 14 ¦ strip should be mounted to the torsion rod 17. Analogously, 15 ¦ plate 2 is mounted to plate 4 through a torsion rod 18 running in 16¦ the direction of axis A and being mounted to base plate 4 by 17¦ means of a connection or mount 22. An unbalanced position of a 18¦ person on plate 1 tends to twist either or both of the rods 17 19¦ and 18. Again, another tension strip is mounted in this case to the torsion rod 18 to measure the torsional deflection. This 21 embodiment likewise permits rather a quick balancing.

23 Footrests 16 are provided on plate 1 particularly for 24 facilitating positional adjustment of the person who has stepped onto plate 1, and it can be seen that these footrests 16 are 26 provided on plate 1 in a manner indicating a slight step forward 27 of the left foot. Also the legs are to be slightly spread. It 1i~2763;~
1 ¦ was found that this position is preferred for posture 2 ¦ acquisition. in order to avoid under these circumstances a 8 ¦ turning of the hip and pelvis under these conditions as that 4 ¦ would amount to an unwanted deviation from normal posture, the 51 tip of the foot which is advanced by a slight forward step, i.e.
61 in this case a left foot, should be turned outwardly to a small 7 extent while the other foot should be turned slightly inwardly.

9 The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but all changes and modifications thereof not 11 constituting departures from the spirit and scope of the 7 inane no intended to be included.

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Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A device for ascertaining reproducibly the posture of a free-standing human being, comprising:
a stand or foot hold plate for supporting a human;
a base plate; a pin of quadrilateral cross section for mounting said stand plate in relation -to a central point, as defined by the pin and the stand plate, to said base plate, for permitting tilting of the stand plate on the pin and only about two axes running parallel to the sides of the quadrilateral cross section and intersecting directly or indirectly in said point; and two tension responsive strain gauges arranged on said pin in 90 degrees offset relation to respond to bending stress and strain of and in the pin, for separately ascertaining tilting of said stand plate about said two axes and providing electrical signals representative thereof, said base plate and said stand or foot hold plate being in horizontal direction pivot ably connected to a third plate.