JP2005211327A - Hip joint stretch outfit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the utilization efficiency of the muscle by widening a hip joint movable range by utilizing nerve stretch reflex without applying a load on the muscle and simultaneously smoothening its movement. <P>SOLUTION: When a user sits on a seat board 2A so as to clamp leg-opening levers 3R, 3L between left and right knees and performs opening/closing movement for opening/closing the legs by himself, the hip joints are stretched borrowing the energizing force of the leg-opening levers 3R, 3L to the leg-opening direction which provides the hardness to open. In order to be capable of performing opening/closing movement to contract the hip joint against the energizing force of the leg opening levers 3R, 3L in the leg closing direction which provides the easiness to close, leg-opening levers 3R, 3L which are in contact with the inner side of the thighs of left and right legs in the sitting posture, and energizes in the leg opening direction with the force which cannot forcibly push open the thighs are disposed on the lower face side of the seating board 2A. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a hip joint stretching tool for expanding the range of motion of a hip joint and simultaneously improving the flexibility of muscles around the hip joint.

From the viewpoint of maintaining health in an aging society in recent years, it is said that the most important issue is to prevent the deterioration of the legs.
As countermeasures, muscle strength enhancement (muscle training) by jogging or walking can be considered, and many of the conventional exercise equipment for hip joints aim to increase muscle strength by applying a load during hip joint exercise.

However, from the standpoint of kinematics, the lowering of the legs and hips increases the flexibility of the muscles around the hip joints while expanding the ROM (Range of motion) rather than strengthening the muscles. It is more effective to smooth the muscles, and if you want to increase muscle strength, you should exercise for strength enhancement after that.
This is true not only for elderly people but also for athletes and rehabilitation patients.

In particular, middle-aged and elderly people can cope with unexpected movements by expanding the ROM, preventing middle-aged and older elderly tripping (stumbling that does not catch up with the brain's motor commands or narrows the stride), As a result, it leads to prevention of “bedridden”, which is most feared at an older age.
Further, even if it becomes a patient requiring care, it is said that the flexibility of the hip joint is required, and the minimum necessary ROM is preferably extended to 90 degrees of extension, that is, bent to 90 degrees, or preferably bent. .
As hip contraction or extension contracture progresses, it becomes difficult to sit in a wheelchair, and when the hip joint has internal rotation contraction and cannot rotate abduction, the knee is bent on its back and the leg is widened. It is necessary to keep the hip joints softer since it is difficult to keep the hip joint open and removed when changing the diaper.

For this reason, a device for performing hip joint movement is required, and a device that can stretch the hip joint has also been proposed.
However, many conventional hip joint stretching devices have been developed to make the hip joints of healthy people more flexible.

As this type of stretching tool, a pair of left and right leg platforms that are opened and closed with a seat plate as the center are provided, and the thighs are placed on the leg platforms and the left and right crank handles are arbitrarily rotated. There has been proposed a leg mount that can be expanded to an arbitrary angle on each of the left and right sides.
Special table flat 9-505746

  According to this, the person who wants to perform stretching sits on the seat and puts the left and right feet on the footrest and opens the footrest to the angle that opens the leg while rotating the left and right crank handles. By trying to open the legs passively and forcibly and repeating this every day to increase the angle, the body tries to soften the body until the hip joint called the crotch split opens up to 180 °.

However, since this type of stretching device forcibly spreads the thigh with the force of the device, it involves considerable pain.
Therefore, if you are a healthy person with the purpose of actively expanding your hip joint to the extent that you can split your hips, you can endure the pain with a little unawareness, but you can continue stretching. It is terrible to force such an intense exercise on the elderly, and the willingness to continue will fade and it will not last long. Therefore, it can be said that it is an instrument unsuitable especially for elderly people.

  Similarly, it has been reported that patients with hip osteoarthritis etc. are also encouraged to expand the ROM of the hip joint and at the same time improve the flexibility of the muscles around the hip joint. Exercise equipment for strengthening muscles and stretching is painful and can even worsen symptoms by overdoing it.

  Therefore, the present invention uses a nerve stretch reflex (stretch reflex) to increase the movable range of the hip joint without imposing a load on the muscle, and at the same time smoothes its movement to improve the efficiency of muscle utilization. The technical challenge is to support training that enables the muscles to fully demonstrate their original strength.

In order to solve this problem, the invention of claim 1 is a hip stretching device that supports opening and closing movements of both left and right legs, and is in contact with the inner thighs of both left and right legs while sitting on a seat plate. A hip stretch device, wherein a pair of open leg levers for biasing the thigh in the open leg direction with a force that cannot forcefully spread the thigh is provided on the lower surface side of the seat plate.
The hip joint stretching device according to claim 2, wherein the wide angle side of the neutral position where the leg opening lever is opened at a preset angle is set as a stretch movement range, and the leg opening lever extends the thigh in the leg opening direction in the stretch movement range. It is made to be energized.
In the hip joint stretching tool according to the third aspect of the present invention, gears that mesh with each other are provided on the respective rotation shafts so that the leg opening lever can be opened and closed equilaterally.
In the hip joint stretching tool according to the fourth aspect, a plurality of springs for urging each leg lever in the leg-opening direction are spanably exchanged between the rotating disks provided on the respective rotation shafts of the leg-opening levers. .

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the open / close movement is performed to open and close the legs by sitting on the seat plate with the open leg sandwiched between the left and right knees, the open leg is attached in the direction of the open leg that is difficult to open. The hip joint is extended by borrowing the force, and the opening and closing movement is performed by contracting the hip joint against the urging force of the opening leg in the closing leg direction which is easy to close.
In addition, when the muscle is stretched, the centripetal impulse of the muscle spindle that detects the degree of extension increases, and the stretch reflex (stretch reflex) that contracts the muscle reflexively occurs, and in various muscles around the hip joint, Chain reflexes have occurred where one muscle's stretch reflex causes another muscle's reflex.
Therefore, it is possible to effectively utilize the urging force of the open leg lever and the reflex of the muscles to expand the ROM of the hip joint with a small load and at the same time improve the flexibility of the muscle around the hip joint. Have.

Further, according to the hip stretching device of claim 2, the wide angle side of the neutral position where the open leg is opened at a preset angle is set as the stretch exercise range, and in the stretch exercise range, the open leg moves the thigh. Since it is biased in the opening direction, the opening lever does not open freely when it is narrower than the neutral position and can be stored compactly.
Further, the hip joint stretching tool according to the third aspect can open and close the left and right equilateral angles so that the left and right legs can be stretched symmetrically.
Furthermore, in the hip joint stretching device according to claim 4, a plurality of springs for urging each leg lever in the leg-opening direction can be exchanged between the rotary disks provided on the respective rotation shafts of the leg-opening levers. Therefore, the urging force can be adjusted by replacing the spring.

  In this example, the task of smoothening the movement of the hip joint is realized with a simple configuration while applying the nerve stretch reflex (stretch reflex) without applying load to the muscles. did.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a hip joint stretching tool according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a bottom view thereof, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a use state.

The hip joint stretching tool 1 of this example supports the opening and closing movements of the left and right legs while sitting on the seat plate 2A. The lower surface of the seat plate 2A, in this example, between the seat plate 2A and the base 2B that supports it. In addition, a pair of left and right open leg levers 3R and 3L that are in contact with the inside of the left and right thighs between the knee and the hip joint and are opened and closed by the thighs are provided.
The leg opening levers 3R and 3L are formed of a double-angled pipe that can be expanded and contracted so that the length can be adjusted according to the length of the leg, and a leg press plate 4R that abuts on the inner side of the knee at the tip thereof. 4L is attached.

Gears 6R and 6L meshing with each other are attached to the rotation shafts 5R and 5L of the leg opening levers 3R and 3L so as to be opened and closed equilaterally.
Further, the rotary shafts 5R and 5L are provided with rotary disks 7R and 7L, respectively, and in the angle range A narrower than the preset neutral position N, the leg open levers 3R and 3L are urged in the closed leg direction, and the neutral position N In the stretch movement range B on the wider angle side, the three springs 8A, 8B, and 8C that urge the open leg levers 3R and 3L in the open leg direction with a force that cannot force the thighs to be expanded are replaced. It is bridged as possible.

Then, in the angle range A narrower than the neutral position N according to the angle of the open leg levers 3R, 3L, only the spring 8A for urging the rotary disks 7R, 7L in the direction of the arrow X as shown in FIG. Since the springs 8B and 8C that urge the rotary disks 7R and 7L in the direction of the arrow Y are stronger than the springs of the springs, the leg opening levers 3R and 3L are maintained in the closed state.
The neutral position N is an angle at which the central spring 8C is located on a line connecting the center lines of the rotation shafts 5R and 5L. If the angle of the leg opening levers 3R and 3L is narrower than this angle, the neutral position N is attached in the closing leg direction. If it is wide, it is biased in the direction of the legs.

  That is, in the stretch movement range B, as shown in FIG. 2B, the springs 8A and 8C for urging the rotating disks 7R and 7L in the direction of the arrow X are more elastic than the rotating disks 7R and 7L. It becomes stronger than the elastic force of only the spring 8B biased in the direction, and the leg opening levers 3R and 3L are biased in the leg opening direction with a force that cannot forcefully spread the thigh.

  Further, when the open leg levers 3R and 3L are expanded to the angle C shown in FIG. 2C, all the springs 8A to 8C urge the rotating disks 7R and 7L in the arrow Y direction, forcing the thighs. However, the leg opening levers 3R and 3L are urged with a force larger than the stretch motion range B.

The above is one configuration example of the hip joint stretching tool of the present invention, and the operation thereof will be described next.
First, the stretch device 1 is placed on a suitable base, and as shown in FIG. 3 (a), it is seated on the seat plate 2A so that the open leg levers 3R and 3L are sandwiched between the knees, and is opened according to the position of the knee. Adjust the length of the leg levers 3R, 3L.
At this time, as shown in FIG. 2A, each of the springs 8A to 8C causes the rotating disks 7R and 7L to move more than the elastic force of only the spring 8A that urges the rotating disks 7R and 7L in the arrow X direction. Since the elastic force of the springs 8B and 8C biased in the Y direction is stronger, the leg opening levers 3R and 3L are kept closed.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), the legs (thighs) are opened to the stretch motion range B by opening the knees while the feet are on the floor, and the leg pressing plates 4R and 4L are in contact with the inside of the knees. When the leg opening levers 3R and 3L are spread by hand, the elastic force of the springs 8A and 8C for urging the rotating disks 7R and 7L in the direction of the arrow X is rotated as shown in FIG. It becomes stronger than the elastic force of only the spring 8B that urges the disks 7R and 7L in the direction of the arrow Y, and the open leg levers 3R and 3L are applied in the open leg direction with a force that cannot force the thighs to be expanded. Be forced.

In this state, if the leg (knee) is opened and closed within the stretch motion range B, the urging force of the leg opening levers 3R and 3L is transmitted to the customer via the leg pressing plates 4R and 4L, so that the leg opening direction is difficult to open. The hip joint is extended with the urging force of the open leg levers 3R and 3L, and the hip joint is contracted against the urging force of the open leg levers 3R and 3L in the close leg direction which is easy to close.
At this time, when the muscle is stretched, the centripetal impulse of the muscle spindle that detects the degree of extension increases, and a stretch reflex (stretch reflex) that contracts the muscle reflexively occurs, and in various muscles around the hip joint A chain reflex has occurred where one muscle's stretch reflex causes another muscle's reflex.
Therefore, it is possible to effectively utilize the biasing force of the leg opening levers 3R and 3L and the reflex of the muscle, and to expand the ROM of the hip joint with a small load, and at the same time improve the flexibility of the muscle around the hip joint.

As shown in FIG. 3 (c), when the legs are opened to an angle C, as shown in FIG. 2 (c), all the springs 8A to 8C move the rotary disks 7R and 7L in the direction of the arrow Y. Since the biasing levers 3R and 3L are biased with a greater force and a greater force, they are suitable for stretching in the vicinity of the maximum joint range of motion that is most difficult to open.
Furthermore, since the leg opening levers 3R and 3L are opened and closed equilaterally, the left and right legs can be stretched symmetrically without being biased.
Furthermore, the urging force can be adjusted by exchanging the springs 8A to 8C spanned between the rotating disks 7R and 7L.

As described above, if the hip stretching device according to the present invention is used, stretch exercise can be performed using stretch reflex and chain reflex, so that there is less fatigue associated with exercise, and both muscular and mental Since the load is minimal, side effects such as muscle pain (bounce and rebound) do not occur.
Therefore, there is a merit that even an elderly person can continue for a long time without fading, and as a result, it has an excellent effect that the ROM of the hip joint can be expanded and at the same time the flexibility of the muscles around the hip joint can be improved.

  As described above, the present invention is not limited to elderly people in general homes, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, sports training gyms, etc. The present invention can be applied to an application for expanding the range of motion of the joint and improving the flexibility of muscles around the hip joint.

Explanatory drawing which shows the hip joint stretching tool which concerns on this invention. The bottom view. Explanatory drawing which shows a use condition.

Explanation of symbols

1 Hip Stretching Tool 2A Seat Plate 3R, 3L Opening Lever 4R, 4L Leg Push Plate 5R, 5L Rotating Shaft 6R, 6L Gear 7R, 7L Rotating Disc N Neutral Position B Stretch Movement Range 8A, 8B, 8C Spring

Claims (4)

  A hip stretch device that supports the opening and closing movements of both left and right legs, abuts on the inside of the thighs of the left and right legs while sitting on a seat, and cannot force the thighs A hip stretching tool, wherein a pair of leg opening levers for biasing in the leg opening direction are provided on the lower surface side of the seat plate.   The wide angle side of the neutral position where the leg opening lever is opened at a preset angle is set as a stretch movement range, and the leg opening lever biases the thigh in the leg opening direction in the stretch movement range. Item 2. A hip stretch device according to item 1.   The hip joint stretching tool according to claim 1, wherein the leg opening lever is provided with gears meshing with each other so as to be opened and closed equilaterally on the right and left sides. 2. The hip joint stretching tool according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of springs for urging each leg opening lever in the leg opening direction are exchangeably spanned between rotating disks provided on the respective rotation shafts of the leg opening levers. .

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