JP2012249674A - Finger extension exercise support device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a finger extension exercise support device allowing a person with the paralysis in fingers to rehabilitate the fingers by himself/herself.SOLUTION: This finger extension exercise support device includes: an actuator section for connecting traction support parts that are disposed from the finger tips along the back face side of the fingers, to finger tip holders having hook-shaped tip parts that are mountable on the tip portions of the bent-state fingers, and pulling the finger tip holders in the direction of the wrist via the traction support parts; a control section for controlling an output value that represents a strength of the traction by the actuator section; and a power supply section for supplying the actuator section and the control section with an electric power.

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for supporting a finger extension movement that enables simple self-mounting to a patient who cannot move a finger voluntarily due to paralysis caused by cerebrovascular disorder or the like.

  In diseases caused by cerebrovascular disorders, it becomes difficult to perform voluntary movements due to cerebral motor centers and motor pathways. It is known that the upper limbs are in a state of grasping their fingers during weakness, and secondary obstacles such as the inability to perform daily activities such as eating, changing clothes, excretion, and bathing occur.

Conventionally, the only effective coping method for this has been training such as reciprocal movement of the finger joint by the therapist. However, since rehabilitation performed by a medical institution is expensive, there is a limit on the total rehabilitation time of the day that the patient can receive and the duration of the rehabilitation, and the patient cannot receive sufficient rehabilitation. In addition, it has been reported that rehabilitation tends to recover its function immediately after the occurrence of cerebrovascular disorder, and an environment capable of early rehabilitation is required.

  In recent years, in order to solve such a present situation, for the fingers with paralysis (paralysis fingers), in order to realize self-rehabilitation that can be performed by only one patient who does not need a therapist, mechanical extension exercise support A number of devices have been studied.

  The device that mechanically supports the extension movement needs to reliably transmit the output of the device to the paralyzed finger, so that the device is securely fixed to the paralyzed finger. As a method of fixing the device, glove shape fixing that fixes the entire finger and band fastening that requires fixing at multiple locations have been proposed, but for fingers that are bent and hidden in the palm area when weak There was a problem that fixing was a complicated task.

  As an example of a device using a fixing method that is easy to wear, a device composed of a wrist brace that is fastened to the wrist or forearm and a finger brace that is worn on the finger portion has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). In the conventional device of Patent Document 1, a wrist brace with one end of a rubber cord fixed at a predetermined position on the back side of the hand and a finger brace with the other end of the rubber cord fixed at the fingertip are attached to support finger extension movement. Is realized. However, since the outrigger, which is an element that changes the direction of the force of extension exercise support, is provided, the entire device becomes large, and the cuff of the finger fixing device is attached to the middle phalanx of the paralyzed finger that cannot be moved arbitrarily. It had the problem that it was difficult to wear it on its own. Moreover, since it is necessary to change the shape of an outrigger according to a patient's finger shape, the exclusive design of an apparatus is needed. For this reason, it takes time to provide the device, and there is a problem that early rehabilitation is hindered.

  As an example of an apparatus using another fixing method, an apparatus using a shape memory alloy has been proposed with the configuration of a wrist orthosis and a finger orthosis (see Patent Document 2). In the device of Patent Literature 2, a ring is attached to the fingertip, and heat is applied to the shape memory alloy to generate a contraction force, thereby supporting the bending / extending movement of the paralyzed finger. However, since it is necessary to change the length of the wire every time it is attached, there is a problem that it takes time to attach. In addition, the traction force of the shape memory alloy has a problem that the finger joint is damaged and the tendon fiber on the bending side is torn, and the finger may be burned by the heat of the shape memory alloy.

JP 2001-087296 A

JP 2004-298573 A

  As shown above, in the conventional example, a device that mechanically substitutes the therapist has been realized, but since the installation work is complicated, an assistant is required, so that it can be installed on its own Is difficult. In addition, it is assumed that the dedicated design is necessary, because it is assumed that the patient manufactures the device from the time when the device is necessary, and the start time of the rehabilitation is delayed, making it difficult to realize early rehabilitation. In addition, there are problems such as factors that cause damage to the user's fingers.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a safe hand extension exercise support device that can be worn by a patient by himself without requiring complicated work for wearing, can be applied to patients of various finger sizes, and is safe. With the goal.

  The present invention is a medical condition in which a paralyzed finger that occurs due to a cerebrovascular disorder or the like cannot be moved arbitrarily, and the position of an object for a paralyzed person who can expect functional recovery by moving the paralyzed finger dynamically by external force, Finger extension by pulling the pulling support part composed of wires, etc. by the actuator part (machine element that converts the input energy into physical momentum based on the input energy) composed of a servo motor whose speed is the controlled variable The aim is to solve the previous problems by providing a device that supports the exercise and repeats the passive extension and bending that the patient himself grasps.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fingertip holder having a hook-shaped tip portion that can be attached so as to be hooked from the outside to a fingertip portion of a bent finger, and the finger from the fingertip connected to the fingertip holder. A traction support portion disposed along the back side of the traction actuator, an actuator portion connected to the other end of the traction support portion and pulling the fingertip holder in the wrist direction via the traction support portion, and the actuator portion. It is the extension exercise | movement assistance apparatus comprised by the control part which controls the output value showing the grade of traction by.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the traction support portion is configured by being divided into different members at the joint portion of the finger, and each member is arranged in the bending extension direction of the finger at the joint portion. The extension according to claim 1, further comprising a slider that is connected by a movable hinge and that allows the position of the hinge to be moved along a length direction of a finger of a member connected to the hinge. It is an exercise support device.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the extension exercise support device according to claim 2, wherein the members are further connected by an elastic body capable of expanding and contracting.

  The device of the present invention has a fixing method that greatly improves the simple wearing, which has been a problem with the conventional extension exercise support device. The central function is an assist mechanism that can support the extension movement of fingers constructed by a fingertip holder with a hook-shaped tip and a traction support, and against the tip of a paralyzed finger that is grasped during weakness It ’s easy to hook up, and it ’s easy to wear the whole finger ’s assist mechanism. In the conventional device, the number of fixing points is said to be an obstacle to simple mounting. However, in the present invention, it is only necessary to hook the fingertip holder on one finger having three degrees of freedom by the finger joint. Easy mounting with few fixed points can be realized.

  The traction support part is configured by being divided into different members at the joints of the fingers, and the joint part of each member is configured by a hinge that is movable in the direction of bending and extending the fingers, and is movable along the finger length direction of the members By providing the slider, it is possible to always bring the traction support portion into contact with the back side of the finger against the finger that expands and contracts during the bending and extending movement. As a result, the three points of the lever that cause each finger joint (fulcrum: center of rotation of the hinge, force point: fingertip holder, action point: finger joint) are fixed, and the output value indicating the degree of traction by the actuator part is sent to the fingertip holder. It is possible to communicate reliably. Further, when each finger joint extends completely, a member overlapping portion where the members overlap each other around the hinge is generated, so that overextension can be prevented. Thereby, the damage of the finger joint and the tearing of the tendon fiber on the bending side due to overload of traction can be prevented.

  Furthermore, since the position of the slider can be adjusted by providing the slider movable range longer than the slider movable range required for finger expansion / contraction during bending / extension, it is possible to cope with individual differences in finger length. Therefore, if the device of the present invention having several different dimensions is prepared in advance, it can be attached to fingers of various dimensions. Since finger paralysis is associated with cerebrovascular disorders that occur suddenly, rehabilitation is often necessary suddenly, but this device can be worn on fingers of various sizes. Anyone can start rehabilitation immediately, enabling early rehabilitation.

  In addition, by connecting each member with an elastic body that can be expanded and contracted separately from the hinges and sliders at the connection part of each member, it is possible to easily attach by stretching the elastic body at the time of mounting, and elastic after fixing It is possible to perform rehabilitation while preventing the fingertip holder from falling off due to the force acting in the finger length direction.

  In the apparatus of the present invention, a servo motor that can be controlled by a battery-driven small controller is arranged in the actuator unit, and a small microcomputer is used in the control unit, whereby the entire system can be miniaturized. Further, by using a dry battery or a rechargeable battery as the power supply unit, the device can be carried and rehabilitation can be performed in various environments.

  Since the device of the present invention realizes simple mounting and device miniaturization, the patient can start rehabilitation at any time regardless of location. This can be expected to increase the rehabilitation time and keep the patient's motivation for rehabilitation high. The longer the rehabilitation time, the more functional recovery can be expected, and the more rehabilitation patients tend to have a shorter time to rehabilitation, so the rehabilitation effect can be expected to increase.

  In the apparatus of the present invention, five finger extension movement support can be performed independently for each of the five tow support units provided on the five fingers by providing five actuator units on each of the tow support units. This makes it possible to allow the fingers to take various postures, and to perform more complex rehabilitation reflecting the patient's movement intention.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the configuration of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the entire orthosis portion. FIG. 3 is a side view of the finger part of the brace part. FIG. 4 is a side view when the extension movement of the orthosis shown in FIG. 3 is supported. FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view of a part of the structure of the joint portion of the orthosis portion. FIG. 6 is a side view in which the joint portion of the appliance shown in FIG. 5 is extended.

  FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the apparatus of the present invention. The brace part 1 to be attached to the paralyzed finger includes a fingertip holder 8 and a traction support part 2 connected to the fingertip holder 8. The actuator unit 3 is connected to the other end of the traction support unit 2, and transmits the force necessary to support the extension movement of the finger to the brace unit 1 through the traction support unit 2. The control unit 4 controls output values representing the degree of traction such as the magnitude of the force that pulls the traction support unit 2 to the actuator unit 3, the length of the wire to be pulled, and the magnitude of the acting torque. The command value input unit 6 transmits an output value to the actuator unit 3 using the user's intention of operation as an input value. This apparatus can operate without the command value input unit 6, but by using the command value input unit 6, extension exercise support reflecting the user's motion intention can be realized. The power supply unit 5 supplies power to the actuator unit 3, the control unit 4, and the command value input unit 6. The power unit 5 may have any form as long as it supplies power, such as a household AC 100V outlet, a dry battery, or a rechargeable battery.

  FIG. 2 is a front view of the entire orthosis portion of the present invention. The band part 7 for fixing the brace part 1 to the wrist can be worn only by a normal hand to realize wearing on its own, such as a hook-and-loop fastener that can be removed and removed, and a snap that is a set of two fasteners. Any material may be used as long as it is composed of anything. The traction support unit 2 connects each fingertip holder 8 and the actuator unit 3, and transmits the traction force of the actuator unit 3 to the fingertip holder 8, thereby realizing extension motion support for the paralyzed finger. The traction support unit 2 is composed of different members and wires 18 at the joints of the fingers, and the wire 18 has sufficient resistance to support the extension movement, such as a metal wire such as a piano wire, a wire of nylon or polyethylene material such as a fishing line. Any material may be used as long as it has tension and has excellent wear resistance that can be used for a long time.

  Since the structure of the thumb is significantly different from that of the other four fingers, in the present invention, when the extension movement support is performed, an acting force in the inner and outer extension directions is generated, and thus the traction support portion 2 may fall off. Therefore, for the purpose of preventing the pulling support portion 2 of the thumb from dropping off, the pulling guide 9 is provided on the pulling support portion 2 on the outer surface of the thumb. Further, since the thumb cannot sufficiently support the extension movement when the traction support portion 2 is fixed to the band portion 7, the root of the traction support portion 2 of the thumb is connected to the traction support portion 2 of the index finger.

  FIG. 3 is a side view of one of the four fingers other than the thumb. The shape of the fingertip holder 8 may be any shape as long as the fingertip can be hooked, such as a shape obtained by bending a flat plate into a J shape. The members of the traction support unit 2 are composed of a middle joint arm 10, a proximal joint arm 11, and a back arm 12, each arm having a flat plate shape, a shape curved in the direction of the inside and outside of the finger, and the like. Any shape is possible as long as there is a surface to contact. The material of the fingertip holder 8 and each arm may be any material as long as it has sufficient rigidity such as a metal such as stainless steel or a resin such as polyethylene. A wire 18 is passed through the wire guide 13 in order to always place the traction support 2 on the back side of the finger. In FIG. 3, the wire guide 13 is shown as a hollow tube. However, the present invention functions as long as the traction support portion 2 and the wire guide 13 are parallel to the long axis direction. The wire 18 may be passed as the wire guide 13.

  FIG. 4 is a side view when the wire 18 of FIG. 3 is pulled by the actuator unit 3. The joint portion 14 which is a connecting portion between each arm and the fingertip holder 8 is a hinge, and the fingertip holder 8, the middle joint arm 10, the proximal joint arm 11 and a part of the back arm 12 are partly around the rotation center of the hinge when extended. The overlapping member overlapping portion 17 is generated, and the hinge of the joint portion 14 is prevented from being overextended.

  FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of one of the three joint portions 14 existing in FIG. The joint portion 14 connecting the arm member A and the arm member B is connected by a hinge provided with a slider that moves in the slider movable range 15. The arm member A and the arm member B are also connected by the elastic body 16. In FIG. 5, the wire guide 13 and the wire 18 are omitted.

  FIG. 6 shows the elastic force generated in the finger long axis direction acting on the arm member A and the arm member B via the elastic body 16 when the fingers are extended in FIG. 5 by arrows.

  2, the wrist side of the brace part 1 is fixed to the wrist of the paralyzed hand that is the target of rehabilitation. A fingertip holder 8 having a hook-shaped tip is hooked around each finger that is in a bent position when it is weakened so as to go around from the back side. At this time, since the elastic body 16 of each joint portion 14 in FIG. 3 temporarily extends, the fingertip holder can be easily hooked. After being hooked on the fingertip, tension is generated in the long axis direction due to the elastic force, so that the fingertip holder 8 and each arm can be placed along the back surface of the finger. In addition, by making the slider movable range 15 of each joint portion 14 longer, it is possible to cope with individual differences in finger length.

By pulling the fingertip holder 8 by the actuator unit 3 through the pulling support unit 2, the finger joint of the user is used as an action point, the rotation center of a nearby hinge as a fulcrum, and the fingertip holder as a force point. Based on this principle, it is possible to extend the finger joint. At this time, the member overlapping portion 17 of FIG. 4 occurs, and the fingertip holder 8 and the arms overlap each other, so that each finger joint has a structure that does not extend beyond the angle of the joint portion 14 of FIG. It will not be an overextension. After the fingers are fully extended, if the force of the actuator unit 3 pulling in the wrist direction toward the traction support unit 2 is removed, the finger returns to the bent position again by the force of the paralyzed finger. By repeating the above operations, the finger can bend and extend.

  In the present invention, five actuators are arranged in the actuator unit 3 and are connected to the five fingertip holders 8 from the thumb to the little finger, respectively, so that each finger can be independently supported for extension movement. As a result, five fingers can be extended and supported independently, and the fingers can be in various postures. In the present invention, as an applied rehabilitation, by inputting the user's intention to exercise from the command value input unit 6 to each actuator unit, it is possible to perform the same movement as the operation desired by the user.

  An example of input to the command value input unit 6 is a glove in which a bending sensor, which is a variable resistance whose resistance value changes depending on the bending angle, is arranged on each finger in order to read the bending angle of each finger of a healthy finger without paralysis. Etc. are attached to the fingers of the healthy side, and the healthy hand and the paralyzed hand are synchronized. In addition, for a patient with general paralysis, a sensor for reading a biological signal such as surface myoelectric potential can be attached to the wrist band of the present invention, and the patient's motion intention can be synchronized therewith.

1: orthosis part 2: traction support part 3: actuator part 4: control part 5: power supply part 6: command value input part 7: band part 8: fingertip holder 9: thumb drop-off guide 10: middle joint arm 11: base joint Arm 12: Back arm 13: Wire guide 14: Joint part 15: Slider movable range 16: Elastic body 17: Member overlapping part

Claims (3)

A fingertip holder having a hook-shaped tip that can be attached to the fingertip portion of a bent finger from outside,
A traction support unit connected to the fingertip holder and disposed along the back side of the finger from the fingertip of the finger;
An actuator unit connected to the other end of the traction support unit, to pull the fingertip holder in the wrist direction via the traction support unit;
A control unit for controlling an output value indicating a degree of traction by the actuator unit;
An extension exercise support apparatus comprising a power supply unit that supplies power to the actuator unit and the control unit. The traction support unit is configured to be divided into different members at the joints of the fingers,
Each of the members is connected to the joint by a hinge that is movable in the direction of bending and extending the fingers,
The extension movement support device according to claim 1, further comprising a slider that allows the position of the hinge to be moved along a length direction of a finger of a member connected to the hinge.   The extension exercise support device according to claim 2, wherein the members are further connected by an elastic body capable of extending and contracting.