JP2013048801A - Stick and stick system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To collect information on a degree of dependence on a stick and the use for a stick user, and to determine appropriateness of the use of the stick objectively.SOLUTION: A control part 153 determines whether the user walks using the stick, on the basis of a signal from a pressure sensor 152. When determining that the user walks, the control part sequentially memorizes a pressure value showing how a load of the user's weight is applied to the stick to a memory in the control part 153.

Description

  The present invention relates to a walking stick, which is a walking support device, and a system using the same.

  Among human movements, walking movements are natural movements acquired by humans and can be said to be important for living. When walking becomes difficult due to age or lumbar disease, it is common to supplement the walking motion using a walking stick as a walking support tool.

  There are various types of canes, such as crutches, Lofstrand canes, underarm clutches, multi-legged canes with multiple legs to be grounded, and canes with one leg to be grounded. These canes are used according to the patient's condition and environment.

  A cane that can be connected to a life monitor such as blood pressure, pulse, and body temperature and transmits detected information is also known (Patent Document 1).

  Furthermore, a cane used by a visually handicapped person is also known as a cane that detects an obstacle ahead of the direction with an ultrasonic sensor and informs the user by vibration caused by a piezoelectric element (Patent Document 2).

JP 2003-325600 A JP 2004-015092 A

  The techniques according to Patent Documents 1 and 2 are desirable in that they have found a new possibility for the “cane”, but are not focused on the original walking motion of the “cane”.

  Inventors of the present application, the most important point in using a cane is whether or not the cane supplements the user's walking motion. From that point of view, currently, the walking motion depends on the cane. I thought the problem was that the person who was doing it, or the doctor in charge or the walking supervisor, did not objectively grasp the dependence on the walking stick during walking.

  For example, there is no wand when the wand being used is low in durability, and it is judged whether to switch to a type of wand that can be applied more weight, or when the body recovers until normal walking without a wand is possible At present, the decision to switch to walking is performed based on the user's own subjectivity or the experience and intuition of the doctor in charge.

  If you can objectively know the degree of dependency on walking sticks as described above, even if you have little knowledge about walking sticks or an inexperienced doctor, you can give appropriate advice on walking actions. become. Therefore, the present invention provides a technique that collects information about the dependency and usage of a cane user with respect to a cane and makes it possible to determine the appropriateness of use of the cane.

In order to achieve the above object, a cane according to an aspect of the present invention includes the following arrangement. That is,
A walking stick for assisting walking movement,
A sensor for detecting a load on the cane body from the cane user;
Control means for detecting a load in the walking motion of the cane user using the cane by the sensor and storing information relating to the detected load in a predetermined memory.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the information regarding the dependence and utilization with respect to a cane of a cane user can be collected, and it becomes possible to objectively determine the appropriateness of a cane use.

It is a section and a top view of a cane in an embodiment. It is a figure which shows the circuit structure of the control part built in a cane and its periphery. It is a flowchart which shows the initial setting process in the control part in embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process in the control part during a user's walk. It is a block block diagram of the information processing apparatus which totals and analyzes walking information in the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence in the information processing apparatus which totals and analyzes the walk information in embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of an analysis process result. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of an analysis process result. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence in the information processing apparatus which totals and analyzes the walk information in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of mounting | wearing to the wearable apparatus and cane in 4th Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. There are many types of canes, such as crutches, Lofstrand canes, multi-legged canes, and single-legged canes. In the present embodiment, a monopod, particularly a cane having a T-shaped grip portion that is widely used will be described as an example. However, it should be noted that this is an example.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1A shows a cross-sectional structural view of the cane 100 in the embodiment, and FIG. 1B shows a top view of the grip (handle) 101 of the cane 100. The cane 100 in the embodiment is a cane in which the grip 101 and the pole 102 form a T shape as described above. A pressure sensor 152, a one-chip control unit 153, and a battery 157 (button cell or the like) are housed inside the pole 102 (on the grip 101 side). The upper end of the lower part of the pole 102 is inserted into the upper part of the pole 102 and comes into contact with a pressure sensor 152 provided on the upper part. When the user puts his / her body weight on the grip 101, the pressure corresponding to the load (load, weight) is applied to the pressure sensor 152, so that the upper and lower portions of the pole 101 can slide by a minute distance. A gap 151 is provided in the pole 102.

  An operation unit 154 including a plurality of switches is provided on the top of the pole 102. Further, an LED 156 is embedded at the tip of the grip 101, and an LCD (liquid crystal) display 155 is embedded near the center. The reason why the LED 156 is provided at the tip of the grip is to allow the user to visually check even when the grip portion is held.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the control unit 153 and the connection relationship with its peripheral circuits. As illustrated, the control unit 153 is connected to a pressure sensor 152, an operation unit 154, an LED 156, and an LCD 155, and these are driven by a battery 157. The control unit 153 includes a microcomputer 161, a memory 162, a timer 163, and an interface 164 that communicates with the outside. The memory 162 includes a ROM that stores a processing procedure of the microcomputer 161 (a program according to flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4 described later), and a RAM that stores pressure data. Note that the interface 164 in the embodiment is a wireless interface because it does not require an electrical connection terminal. However, the interface 164 may be a USB interface, for example, as long as it can communicate with an external device. When using the USB interface, the connection terminal must be provided somewhere on the staff, but when the battery 157 is a rechargeable secondary battery, the bus power from the USB is used for communication with an external device. And has the advantage of being rechargeable. The timer 163 is for holding the time.

  In general, in the case of the T-shaped monopod shown in the embodiment, it is considered suitable for walking with 20% of the user's weight loaded on the cane. That is, in the case of a person with a weight of 60 kg, a walking motion can be performed by sharing 12 kg corresponding to 20% of the weight with the cane, and as a result, the burden on the feet, waists, etc. of the person is relieved accordingly. Dispersing one's own weight on a cane is called exemption, and the rate is called exemption rate. The maximum unloading rate depends on the type (shape) of the cane used. For example, in the case of a loft strand cane, the unloading rate can be further increased to 30%.

  Now, since the cane 100 in the embodiment is a T-shaped monopod, the unloading rate in normal use is 20% as described above, and the weight within the range of 20% at maximum is applied. It can be said that walking is a normal range. However, when the maximum burden on the cane is below a certain level, it can be considered as a guideline for determining that the cane is not useful or that the cane is unnecessary. In the embodiment, the unloading rate as a guideline is 5%. On the other hand, if the maximum load exceeds 20%, the user's walking movement is difficult (exhausted walking), or if the situation continues for a long time, the allowable load is removed. It can also be used as a guideline to grasp the amount of judgment material for a highly efficient cane.

From the above consideration, in the embodiment, threshold values Th1 and Th2 (Th1 <Th2) corresponding to 5% and 20% of the body weight (which are set according to the type of the cane) are set, and the maximum pressure P (( Hereinafter, this pressure is referred to as walking pressure, and its value is referred to as walking pressure value)
P ≦ Th1
Th1 <P ≦ Th2
Th2 <P
In addition to letting the user know which of the three stages is present, data indicating the walking pressure value P is stored and held together with the time so that it can be used for later analysis. The LED 156 is used for notifying which of the above three stages is in effect. The LED 156 actually includes three LED elements of green, yellow, and red, and can be seen as one LED when viewed from the user. Light emission is green when P ≦ Th1, yellow when Th1 <P ≦ Th2, and red when Th2 <P (details will be described later).

  The method for obtaining the walking pressure P is as follows. In the case of the walking motion using the T-shaped monopod in the embodiment, the grounding to the ground (floor) and the lifting operation from the ground are repeated every time two steps are taken. Therefore, the time required to advance two steps is considered to be 5 seconds at the maximum, and this is set as the maximum cycle. Then, the maximum pressure (peak) detected by the pressure sensor 152 during the ground contact state of the cane within the maximum period was set as the walking pressure P. However, when the walking pressure P was detected 5 times consecutively within the maximum period under these conditions, it was determined that the walking was in progress. Note that the present invention is not limited by these conditions, and may be set as appropriate.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process related to the initial setting of the control unit 153 in the embodiment. When the battery 157 is supplying normal power, the walking monitoring mode is set, and the processing in FIG. 3 is performed for a predetermined operation (for example, long press) on a predetermined switch provided in the operation unit 154. When the operation is performed, the initial setting mode is entered.

  First, the microcomputer 161 causes the operator to input weight in step S11. For example, “50 kg” is displayed on the LCD 155 as an initial value, and an increase / decrease operation in units of 1 kg and a determination operation are performed by a switch provided on the operation unit 154. When the microcomputer 161 inputs the weight, the microcomputer 161 stores and saves the weight in the memory 162.

  Next, the microcomputer 161 sets the unloading rate (two) in step S12. Similarly to the weight, this is input by the operation unit 154 and stored in the memory 162. In the embodiment, the description will be continued assuming that 5% and 20% are input. If this input is performed, it will progress to step S13 and will calculate threshold value Th1 and Th2 from a body weight and two unloading rates. Then, the process proceeds to step S14, where the calculated threshold values Th1 and Th2 are stored in the memory 162, and the present process ends (returns to the walking monitoring mode).

  Next, the walking monitoring mode will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the microcomputer 161 detects the pressure by the pressure sensor 152 (step S21), and determines whether or not it is walking based on the time measured by the timer 163 and the detected pressure value (step S22). The criteria for determining whether or not walking is as described above. If it is determined that the user is not walking, the process returns to step S21 again.

  If it is determined that the user is walking, the process proceeds to step S23, and the walking pressure P, which is the maximum pressure in the pressure for one cycle detected so far, and the time are paired and sequentially stored in the memory 162. . Next, in steps S24 and S25, it is determined to which of the three stages the walking pressure P in the detected period of interest belongs. If P ≦ Th1, the LED 156 is driven to be lit in green (step S26). If Th1 <P ≦ Th2, the LED 156 is driven to turn on in yellow (step S27). If Th2 <P, the LED 156 is driven to be lit in red (step S28). In either case, the process returns to step S21.

  The above is the processing in the walking monitoring mode. The processing of the control unit 153 in the cane 100 in the embodiment includes a measurement data transfer mode in addition to the above two modes. This measurement data transfer mode is shifted by a predetermined operation of a predetermined switch from the operation unit 154, and the data (weight, weight, etc.) in the memory 162 is simply used in response to a request from an external device using the interface 164. (Walking data composed of time and maximum pressure during walking) is transmitted, and it will become clear from the description of the device that receives and analyzes the data, so detailed description here is omitted. To do.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to objectively grasp whether the unloading rate for the cane is large or small from the lighting color of the LED 156 provided on the cane 100. In addition, based on this result, it can be utilized for the amount of judgment material such as taking a break.

Next, the structure of an analysis apparatus that analyzes data transferred in the measurement data transfer mode from the cane 100 according to the embodiment and the processing contents thereof will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the analysis apparatus according to the embodiment. This apparatus can be replaced by an information processing apparatus typified by a personal computer or the like. As shown in the figure, a CPU 201, ROM 202, RAM 203, HDD 204, keyboard 205, pointing device (mouse, etc.) 206,
It has a display 207 and an interface 208 that communicates with the wand 100. In the case of the embodiment, since the interface inside the wand 100 is a wireless communication interface, this interface 208 is also a similar interface.

  When the power of the apparatus is turned on, the CPU 201 is activated in accordance with the boot program stored in the ROM 202, and the OS (operating system) is loaded from the HDD 204 into the RAM 203, so that the operation can be performed using the keyboard 205 and the pointing device 206. And when a user runs the application program which analyzes cane data, this apparatus will function as an analysis apparatus.

  FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the processing procedure of the CPU 201 when the analysis application program is executed. Hereinafter, the processing content of the analysis apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S31, communication with the cane 100 is started via the interface 208 and waits until communication is possible. When communication with the cane 100 is enabled, the can 100 is requested to transmit measurement data and the data is received (step S32). When the data can be normally received, the CPU 201 instructs the walking stick 100 to erase the walking pressure and time data. However, since data such as weight and unloading rate can be used, they are excluded from being deleted.

  Next, in step S33, a state value related to the usage status of the cane is calculated from the received data. In the received data, a number of data in the form of {walking pressure P, time} continues after the weight, the unloading rate, and the threshold values Th1 and Th2. Therefore, the CPU 201 determines that it is during walking, calculates the period length, the total walking time of the day, the maximum value of the walking pressure P of the day, and the average value of the walking pressure P every minute, and receives it. The data is stored and registered in the database already built in the HDD 204 together with the data (step S34).

  Thereafter, in step S35, the user selects what kind of analysis result to display, and in step S36, the data is displayed according to the selected analysis content. Then, as long as it is determined in step S37 that display of another format is instructed, steps S35 and S36 are repeated.

  7 and 8 show examples of the format of data to be displayed. FIG. 7 shows a display example of a certain day's walking situation designated by the operator. In the figure, the transition of the average walking pressure P in increments of 1 minute is shown from the detection of the first walking using the walking stick on the designated day to the last walking period of the day. The vertical axis shows the duty-free rate (pressure may be acceptable), and is indicated by a broken line in the horizontal direction at the position corresponding to the duty-free rate of 20% and 5% as shown in the figure. It was made clear. In addition, the horizontal axis shown in the figure indicates time, and the time zone corresponding to the period of continuous walking is indicated by a thick line, so that the walking time can be easily determined.

  FIG. 8 is an example of a screen showing the transition of the maximum value and the average value of walking pressure per day for the past month. In this example, the maximum walking pressure has recently been below the unloading rate of 20%. It can be understood that the tendency of recovery of the disease is remarkable. For example, when the cane in use is a multi-legged cane or a lofstrand cane, it can also be used as a material amount for switching to a cane having a lower unloading rate.

  As a method of capturing daily changes, a graph as shown in FIG. 8 may be used, or an integrated value (walking pressure × total time) in a fixed time in the graph shown in FIG. 8 may be used.

  Note that any information can be used as long as it can be derived from the walking pressure and time data. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to FIGS. 7 and 8, and information analysis results at other angles may be displayed.

  As described above, according to the analysis apparatus of the present embodiment, the walking situation of the cane user can be objectively grasped in a short period such as one day or a relatively long period such as one month. It becomes possible to use the amount of material such as the degree of dependency of the person's cane, of course, whether or not to use the currently used cane, and whether to switch to an alternative cane.

[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the example in which the operation unit 154 is provided on the cane 100 and the LCD 155 for assisting the setting by a small number of switches provided on the operation unit has been described. However, various settings based on these may be performed on the analysis apparatus side, and the operation unit 154 and the LCD 155 may be excluded from the cane 100. The reason for doing this is that it is difficult to force various settings using the operation unit 154 and the LCD 155 especially for the elderly, and the operation unit 154 and the LCD 155 are excluded from the cane 100. The cost can be reduced.

  In this case, the cane 100 has the operation unit 154 and the LCD 155 eliminated from the configuration of FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, and the processing of the microcomputer 161 is slightly changed, which will be apparent from the following description. Therefore, an analysis apparatus according to the second embodiment will be described. The configuration related to the hardware of the analysis apparatus is the same as that of the first embodiment. The analysis apparatus according to the second embodiment is operated by a specific user who instructs the use of a doctor or a cane, for example, and an example in which a large number of patients used by the cane are managed in an integrated manner will be described. The processing procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 9 replaces FIG. 6 in the first embodiment, and is activated by an instruction from the user.

  First, in step S41, information (ID or the like) for specifying the user of the walking stick to be communicated is input from the keyboard 205. As a result, one of all cane users stored in the HDD 204 can be specified.

  Next, in step S42, it waits until communication with the cane 100 becomes possible. When communication is possible, the process proceeds to step S43 to display a menu for selecting whether to perform various settings for the cane 100 or to acquire measurement data from the cane 100, and to allow the user to select. Then, in step S44, it is determined whether the user's selection is a setting for the cane or data acquisition from the cane.

  If it is determined that the user's selection is a setting for the cane, the process proceeds to step S45, and various parameters are set. The parameters are the weight of the user with the cane and the unloading rate (two) of the cane. Further, threshold values Th1 and Th2 are calculated therefrom. Since the user of the cane has already been specified, the information may be read from the HDD database and edited as necessary.

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S46, where the set and calculated data is transferred toward the cane 100 and stored in the memory 162. As a result, the battery 157 of the cane 100 is exhausted and the data in the memory 162 is lost, the case where the cane is used for the first time, and further, the case where the weight etc. fluctuate can be dealt with. Thus, the microcomputer 161 can perform processing in the walking monitoring mode.

  On the other hand, when data acquisition from the cane 100 is selected, the process proceeds from step S44 to step S47, and measurement data acquisition, registration, and display processing are performed. The processing in step S47 may be the same as that in step S32 and subsequent steps in FIG. However, the registration target is the database area assigned to the cane user specified in step S41.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, since the operation related to the setting for the cane is performed on the analysis apparatus side, the burden related to the operation related to the cane user can be reduced, and the cost related to the cane is also reduced. Can be reduced. Furthermore, since there is no operation section on the cane, there is basically no problem of erroneous operation. Furthermore, when the user of the analysis device is a doctor or a staff of a cane, a single analysis device can deal with a plurality of users, so the cost when viewed as a system may be further reduced. it can.

[Third Embodiment]
In the first and second embodiments, the analysis apparatus has an interface for communicating with each other in order to acquire measurement data inside the wand. For example, the memory 162 of the wand 100 can be detached from the wand 100. In addition, the analysis apparatus may have a memory card reader / writer.

[Fourth Embodiment]
The cane used in the first and second embodiments includes a pressure sensor 152 and a control unit 153, and has an LED. However, an example in which the pressure sensor 152, the control unit 153, and the LED 156 can be attached to a normal cane will be described as a third embodiment.

  FIG. 10A shows an external perspective view of a cane attachment according to the third embodiment. This cane attachment includes an LED 156 and a part 301 containing a control unit (corresponding to reference numeral 153 in FIG. 2), a part for detecting the pressure sandwiched between the palm and the grip of the cane (corresponding to the pressure sensor 152 in FIG. 1) 303, In addition, it is composed of a flexible portion 302 that connects the parts 301 and 302 together. On both sides of each of the parts 301 and 303, hook-and-loop fasteners 301a, b, 303a and b for winding and fixing the front and rear ends of the T-shaped grip are provided.

  FIG. 10B shows a side view of a state where the cane attachment of the third embodiment is fixed to the cane having a T-shaped grip using the hook-and-loop fasteners 301a, b, 303a, and b.

  As shown in FIG. 10 (B), it can be attached to many canes having a T-shaped grip, and can be used for evaluation of canes that are being used by many cane users.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100: Cane 101: Grip 102: Pole 151: Gap 152: Pressure sensor 153: Control part 154: Operation part 155: LCD 156: LED 157: Battery

Claims (9)

A walking stick for assisting walking movement,
A sensor for detecting a load on the cane body from the cane user;
A cane comprising: control means for detecting a load in the walking motion of the cane user using the cane by the sensor and storing information on the detected load in a predetermined memory. An interface for communicating with an external analyzer;
The walking stick according to claim 1, further comprising: a transmission unit that transmits information stored in the memory to the analysis device via the interface.   The wand according to claim 1, wherein the memory is detachable from the wand.   The said control means stores the maximum load detected in the period from the earthing | grounding to the lifting of the cane of the cane user to the memory as a walking pressure in any one of the Claims 1 thru | or 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. The cane described. Threshold setting means for setting a threshold serving as a comparison reference for determining the degree of load applied to the cane of the weight of the cane user;
A comparing means for comparing the threshold set by the threshold setting means with the walking pressure;
The wand according to claim 4, further comprising display means for displaying a comparison result by the comparison means.   There are two unloading rates set by the threshold setting means, one is a first unloading rate indicating a lower limit, and the other is a second unloading indicating an upper limit depending on the shape of the cane. The cane according to claim 5, wherein two thresholds are set based on a product of the first and second unloading rates and the weight of the cane user.   The cane according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the sensor and the control means are housed in a member that covers a grip part of the cane.   The analysis apparatus which analyzes the information stored in the said memory which the wand of any one of Claims 1 thru | or 7 has, and displays the information which shows transition of the load concerning the wand at the time of the said wand user's walk. A walking stick system comprising a walking stick that assists walking motion, and an analysis device that analyzes the dependence of the walking stick on the walking stick,
The cane is
A sensor for detecting a load on the cane body from the cane user;
Control means for detecting a load in the walking motion of the cane user using the cane by the sensor and storing information on the detected load in a predetermined memory;
The analysis device includes:
A cane system comprising means for analyzing information stored in the memory and displaying information indicating a transition of a load on the cane when the cane user walks.

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