JP2014008324A - System for evaluating a thumb and fingers - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system that can individually evaluate the maximum muscle strength and motor coordination of a thumb and fingers.SOLUTION: A system comprises muscle strength measuring means for individually measuring the muscle strength of a thumb and fingers, three-dimensional analysis means for performing a three-dimensional analysis on the muscle strength measured by the muscle strength measuring means, and means for measuring and analyzing a deviation from a target movement direction when a single finger is inserted into the muscle strength measuring means and the muscle strength is used toward a target point.

Description

  The present invention relates to a hand function evaluation system in a hand rehabilitation region.

The human hand has the thumb and the other four fingers facing each other.
The finger is composed of three phalanxes, a distal phalanx, a middle phalanx, and a proximal phalanx accompanied by a nail, but the thumb has only two phalanges.
The phalanx connects to the metacarpal bone inside the palm and reaches the carpal bone.
The action of grabbing or picking an object with the hand is performed by the coordinated movement of the thumb and fingers, but if there is a disorder based on a nervous system or musculoskeletal disease or if there is a developmental disorder of the hand, the coordinated movement becomes difficult.
Although the evaluation of pinch force between the thumb and finger has been proposed so far, the evaluation of the motor coordination of the thumb and finger alone has been insufficient.
Patent Document 1 discloses an apparatus that evaluates human hand skill and object manipulation ability by an apparatus in which two handles are connected through one connecting portion.
However, the device disclosed in this publication is for evaluating the cooperation of both hands and the pinch force of a finger, and cannot evaluate the muscular strength or cooperation of a finger alone.

JP 2005-503229 A

  An object of this invention is to provide the system which can evaluate the maximum muscular strength of each finger | toe only of a thumb and a finger | toe, and motor coordination.

  The thumb and finger evaluation system according to the present invention includes a muscle strength measuring unit for each of the thumb and finger, and a three-dimensional analysis unit for three-dimensionally analyzing the muscle strength measured by the muscle strength measuring unit. It is characterized by comprising means for measuring and analyzing a deviation from the target movement direction and position when a finger is attached to the measuring means and the muscular force is applied toward the target point.

In this case, the means for measuring and analyzing the deviation from the target movement direction and position is the movement time, the movement distance, and the movement when the muscular force is applied toward the target point with either the thumb or the finger. It is preferable to measure and analyze any one or more of the moving areas.
Here, the three-dimensional analysis means that the muscular strength is analyzed by breaking it into three component forces in the X, Y, and Z axes.

When the evaluation system according to the present invention is used, the maximum muscle strength of the finger alone is measured, and the three-dimensional force of the X, Y, and Z axes is calculated by three-dimensional analysis. The target direction and position of muscle strength can be determined.
The subject can exercise his / her muscles toward the target point with his / her finger alone and measure and evaluate the time to reach the target point, movement distance, movement area, etc. Evaluation becomes possible and appropriate rehabilitation can be performed.

The example of the measuring device of the muscular strength of the finger alone concerning the present invention is shown. (A) is a measurement apparatus front view, (b) shows the side view. (A) shows a state in which the thumb is inserted into the sensor part, and (b) shows the sensor part. The structural example of the evaluation system which concerns on this invention is shown. An example of the display which evaluates the muscular strength of a finger is shown.

A configuration example of the evaluation system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.
1 to 3 show an example of the structure of the muscle strength measuring device 10 for a single finger.
The measuring device 10 includes a fixing base 12 for fixing the arm 2 and a sensor unit 11 for measuring the muscle strength by inserting the finger alone in order to suppress the influence of the arm force when measuring the muscle strength of the finger.
The purpose of the fixing base 12 of the arm 2 is to fix the arm so that it does not move, and there is no limitation on its structure.
In this embodiment, as a prototype device, a long hole 12b and a fixing screw 12c are provided in one piece of a substantially L-shaped fixing member 12a.

In the sensor unit 11, a ring-shaped finger insertion part 11b for inserting a finger alone is connected to a plate-like base part 11a by four shaft-like connection parts 11c.
The base portion 11a is connected to the three-component force meter 11e via a strain input portion 11d.
As shown in FIG. 4, three component forces in the X, Y, and Z-axis directions are connected to the amplifier 20 from the three component force meter 11e as shown in FIG.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the three-component force meter 11e is attached to the support base 13c, and the support base 13c is screwed to the screw rod 13b so that the height can be adjusted along the support base 13a. This is an example having a thickness adjustment tool 13.

A configuration example of the evaluation system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
The muscular strength of the finger alone measured by the measuring device 10 is amplified by the amplifier 20 as a component force decomposed in the three directions of the X, Y, and Z axes, and a personal computer (personal) is converted into a data converter by the A / D converter 30. Computer) sent to PC 40.
The PC 40 can perform three-dimensional analysis and various calculation processes based on the input three-way component force data.
The calculated data is displayed on the display 50 as shown in FIG.
The display can be a two-dimensional coordinate display or a three-dimensional coordinate display by any combination in the X, Y, and Z axis directions.
FIG. 5 shows an X- and Y-axis two-dimensional coordinate display as an example.
First, the subject measures the maximum muscular strength of the finger alone with this measuring apparatus.
FIG. 1 shows an example in which the thumb 1a of the thumb 1a and fingers 1b to 1e of the hand 1 is measured.
Based on this, the direction of movement to be the target point T within the maximum muscular strength and the muscular strength as the cooperative target are set.
In FIG. 5, the direction and position are indicated by T.
For example, the subject inserts the thumb 1a into the finger insertion portion 11b and moves the muscle strength so as to reach the target point.
At this time, it is possible to calculate and display the time until the target point T is reached, the moving distance (trajectory) L that has been moved, or the moving area S that is calculated based on the relationship between the moving direction and the distance.
It should be noted that it is preferable to specify a predetermined measurement time during measurement so that analysis is easy.

  As a result, in addition to orthopedic diseases and central diseases, evaluation of muscle strength and motor coordination of thumb and fingers in many fields such as hand development disorders for pediatric diseases and hand motor coordination disorders for neuropsychiatric disorders Can contribute to rehabilitation.

1 hand 1a thumb 1b index finger 1c middle finger 2 arm 10 finger muscle strength measuring device 11 sensor 11a base 11b finger insertion part 11c connecting part 11d strain input part 11e three component force meter 11f three component force output part 12 fixing base 12a fixed Member 12b Long hole 12c Fixing screw 13 Height adjustment tool

Claims (2)

A muscle strength measuring means for each of the thumb and fingers,
Three-dimensional analysis means for three-dimensional analysis of muscle strength measured by the muscle strength measurement means,
A mother finger and a finger characterized by having means for measuring and analyzing a deviation from the target movement direction and position when a finger is attached to the muscle strength measuring means alone and the muscle force is applied toward the target point Evaluation system.   The means for measuring and analyzing the deviation from the target movement direction and position is a movement time, a movement distance, and a movement area when the muscular force is applied toward the target point with either the finger or the finger. 2. The evaluation system for thumbs and fingers according to claim 1, wherein any one or more of them are measured and analyzed.

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