JP4225566B2 - Knee osteoarthritis treatment device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a knee osteoarthritis treatment device for strengthening an outer knee muscle group that makes it difficult for the pain of the knee to appear by training the outer muscle group of the knee and suppressing the lateral movement of the knee during walking. .

  Conventionally, as a method for correcting the O-leg, an attempt was made to cure only the knee bend using a rubber band, a belt, or the like. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-60910 discloses an apparatus for executing an O-leg correction exercise method for such a problem. FIG. 7 is an external perspective view showing the O-leg correction exercise device described in the publication.

  In this O-leg correction exercise device 100, two grooves 103 are formed in a flat upper surface plate 102 of a box-shaped device main body 101, and two slope bases 105 are slidably attached on the device main body 101. . The tilting table 105 is provided with two rows of wheels (not shown) on the bottom surface so as to enter the groove 103 and roll inside the apparatus main body 102. The two inclined bases 105 are inclined so as to be lowered toward the inside, and are connected by a ring-shaped rope through a connection tool protruding inside in the apparatus main body.

In the exercise method using the O-leg correction exercise device 100, the slope base 105 is first brought to the left and right ends, and one leg is placed while standing there. At this time, the ankle, which is twisted outward depending on the angle of the slope base 105, is twisted in the opposite direction, and the O leg is corrected. Next, wrap a rubber cord just above both knees to fully extend the knee, then slowly open the leg, stop for a few seconds and then close the leg. When the legs are opened, the elastic cord becomes a lever and the O-leg position is corrected to the X-leg position and at the same time the muscles outside the lower limbs are strengthened.
JP 2000-60910 A

  However, the conventional O-leg correction exercise device described above is performed in a standing position, and the weight is applied to the knee during exercise. For example, the O-leg position is set to the X leg position and corrected. However, when exercising, there is a problem that the load on the inside of the knee of the pathogenic part becomes large and pain is easily induced.

  By the way, there are many people with O-legs in Japanese, but such people gradually wear the cartilage inside the knee joint as they age. For this reason, the load applied to the legs during walking acts outward with respect to the knees, shifting the knees outward, further deforming the O-leg and further increasing the burden on the inner joint. And when this state continues and the cartilage is broken, osteoarthritis is diagnosed. On the other hand, for such osteoarthritis, the progress of the O-leg can be prevented or knee pain can be reduced by adjusting the balance of the knee during walking.

Therefore, the present invention aims to provide a device for treating osteoarthritis of the knee for strengthening the outer muscle group of the knee that suppresses the lateral movement of the knee during walking by training the outer muscle group of the knee. .

The knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus of the present invention has a pair of foot molds for positioning both feet of the user, and a pair of foot molds so as to be laterally moved from the center side to the left and right outer sides, respectively. is formed, a pair of guide members than the center side is inclined so as lateral outer is high, the guide member so the footprint of lateral movement becomes resistance when moving to the left and right outside the footprint It has the connected elastic member, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.
Further, in the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus of the present invention, the guide member is formed linearly or in an arc shape, and is pivotally supported on the center side, and the height adjustment in the vertical direction on the left and right outer sides. It is preferable that a height adjusting mechanism is provided.
In the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus according to the present invention, the elastic member includes a spring member whose restoring force is increased by stretching and a constant load spring member capable of outputting a certain restoring force in series. It is preferable that

  Therefore, according to the present invention, the user can exercise without moving the painful knee itself, because the height of the knee does not move up and down even when the knee is aligned and the lower leg is expanded. I can train the muscles outside the knee without.

Next, an embodiment of the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the outer knee muscle group strengthening method of the present embodiment is an exercise method performed in a sitting position sitting on a chair 50, with a foot attached to the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1. Is what you do. At that time, as shown in FIG. 1, the user sits with the height of the chair 50 adjusted so that the bent knee is substantially perpendicular.

  First, as shown in FIG. 2, the user puts his hands on both knees and closes the legs. Then, with both hands held so that both knees are not separated, both legs are spread outward as shown in FIG. At this time, both legs of the user are supported by the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1, and the lower leg is fanned out in a state where the kneecaps are aligned while the knee height is bent at 90 degrees without moving up and down. As will be described later, resistance is applied to the foot mold of the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1, so that the muscles outside the knee (such as the intestinal shin ligament muscle and the lateral vastus muscle) can be exercised by expanding the lower leg. Is loaded.

  The user repeats the exercise of aligning the kneecaps and putting the lower leg in the closed state shown in FIG. 2 and the expanded state shown in FIG. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3, exercise is performed to maintain a state where the lower leg is spread for a certain period of time. In this way, the muscle group outside the knee can be trained by performing a rotational movement at the center of the knee while receiving resistance in the direction in which the lower leg extends. At that time, since the knee height does not change, it is possible to exercise without moving the painful knee itself, so that the muscle group outside the knee can be trained without difficulty.

Next, the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1 used for this knee outside muscle group reinforcement method is demonstrated. Here, FIG. 4 is a front view showing the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1, as in FIGS. 2 and 3, and is a partially transparent view.
The knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1 is configured on a rectangular base plate 2. The base plate 2 is provided with adjusting screws 3 at the four corners thereof so that the height and inclination can be adjusted. In addition, a frame 4 is fixed to the base plate 2 having a long horizontal shape along the long side. A pair of left and right support bases 5 are fixed to the frame 4 at the center in the longitudinal direction, and a slide rail 6 is swingably attached to the support base 5. In the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1, the inclined slide rails 6 are provided symmetrically, and the entire apparatus has a symmetrical structure.

The two slide rails 6 are arranged in parallel on the left and right sides, and both ends are attached to the fixing plates 7 and 8 and are integrally formed. Both ends of the fixing plates 7 and 8 are bent at right angles, and the fixing plate 7 located on the center side of the apparatus is pivotally supported by a shaft 28 whose bent portion is fixed to the support 5.
Further, guide readers 9 are vertically erected on the base plate 2 at both ends in the left-right direction of the drawing, which is the longitudinal direction, and are fixed to the frame 4 by screws. The guide reader 9 is formed with a long hole-shaped slit 9a in the vertical direction, and the fixed plate 8 of the slide rail 6 is also formed with a long hole-shaped slit 8a at the bent portion, and the slits 8a, 9a are formed on each other. Located so as to intersect.

  And slits 8a. The adjusting screw 10 passes through the overlapping portion of 9a and is screwed with the nut inside. Therefore, the slide rail 6 of the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1 swings in the vertical direction at the left and right end portions around the center fixing plate 7, and the fixing plate 8 is fastened to the guide reader 9 with the adjusting screw 10. By doing so, the tilt can be adjusted. The slide rail 6 is attached so that the slider 11 slides, and the slider 11 is further provided with a foot mold 12 for fitting a user's foot. Therefore, this knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1 is configured such that its foot 12 smoothly moves laterally along the inclined slide rail 6.

  A mounting bracket 13 is attached to the slider 11 to which the foot 12 is mounted so as to protrude downward between the two slide rails 6, and one end of a spring 15 is connected to the tip of the mounting bracket 13. A wire 16 is connected to the other end of the spring 15, and the wire 16 is fixed on the opposite side beyond the center position of the apparatus via a pulley 18 of a shaft 28 fixed to the support 5. The load spring unit 20 is connected. Accordingly, the slider 11 is connected in series to the spring 15 and the constant load spring unit 20, and each elastic member acts in stages with respect to the movement along the slide rail 6.

  That is, the restoring force of the spring 15 increases in proportion to the elongation, but the constant load spring unit 20 outputs a constant restoring force. Therefore, in the knee outside muscle group reinforcement method using this knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1, it is comprised so that a user's leg may be loaded in steps by two elastic members. That is, since the restoring force is small while the extension of the spring 15 is short, the restoring force of the spring 15 acts. However, after the stretching force exceeds a restoring force of the constant load spring unit 20, the constant load by the constant load spring unit 20 is constant. The restoring force of is to act. In this way, the user can exercise without applying an excessive load.

  Here, FIGS. 5 and 6 are a plan view and a side view showing the constant load spring unit 20, respectively. The constant load spring unit 20 has a central winding drum 21 and unwinding drums 22 and 23 sandwiched between the bracket 24 bent in an L-shape and rotatably mounted in a line as shown. Are lined up. In the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1, the drums 21, 22 and 23 are fixed via a bracket 24 so that the drums 21, 22 and 23 are arranged in the longitudinal direction (lateral direction in the drawing) of the base plate 2. The spring bands 25 and 26 used in the constant load spring unit 20 are thin band-shaped stainless steel in a wound state, and are wound around rewind drums 22 and 23, respectively.

  The spring bands 25 and 26 sent out from the rewind drums 22 and 23 are both fixed to the center take-up drum 21 at their tips, and each of the spring bands 25 and 26 reverses the take-up direction to rewind the center take-up drum 21. It is designed to be rolled up in layers. Therefore, torque in the direction of arrow A is applied to the winding drum 21 by the restoring force that the fed spring bands 25 and 26 try to rewind the rewind drums 22 and 23.

  The winding drum 21 is formed integrally with a wire winding portion 21b for winding the wire 16 in addition to a spring winding portion 2a for winding the spring bands 25 and 26. The wire 16 wound around the winding drum 21 is fed out through a through hole in the wall surface 24 a of the bracket 24, and is connected to the spring 15 via a pulley 18 of a shaft 28 fixed to the support 5. . Therefore, in the normal state of the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1, the spring bands 25 and 26 are wound around the winding drum 21 by a predetermined amount and a restoring force acts in the direction of arrow A. A stopper 19 fixed to the wire 16 is pressed against the wall surface 24a. Therefore, one of the wires 16 is tensioned by the spring 15 and the other is tensioned by the constant load spring unit 20.

Next, the operation of the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1 when performing the above-described knee outer muscle group strengthening method will be described.
The knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1 first adjusts the height and inclination of the whole apparatus with the adjusting screw 3, further loosens the adjusting screw 10, adjusts the inclination of the swingable slide rail 6, and then tightens again. I do. The knee osteoarthritis treatment device 1 thus prepared has a foot 12 on the lower side of the slide rail 6 that is inclined by being pulled by a spring 15 in a normal state, and a pair of feet in the center of the device as shown in FIG. 12 are aligned.

  Therefore, the user sits on the chair 50 as shown in FIG. 1 and puts both feet into the left and right foot molds 12 with the knee bent at a substantially right angle. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, from the state where the feet are closed with both hands attached to both knees, both feet are gradually spread outward as shown in FIG. To do. At this time, in the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1, as shown by an arrow C in FIG. 4, the pair of foot molds 12 is integrated with the slider 11 and moves obliquely upward according to the slide rail 6. When the foot 12 moves in the direction of the arrow C in this way, the spring 15 connected through the mounting bracket 13 is first extended. Therefore, the restoring force of the spring 15 acts as a load via the foot mold 12 on the user who wants to spread the lower leg.

  When the spring 15 extends to some extent and exceeds the restoring force of the constant load spring unit 20, the wire 16 is then pulled, and a constant restoring force of the constant load spring unit 20 acts. That is, when the wire 16 is pulled in the direction of arrow B shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the take-up drum 21 rotates in the direction opposite to the arrow A shown in FIG. , 23 are wound around the winding drum 21. At that time, the restoring force that the spring bands 25 and 26 try to unwind becomes the biasing force that tries to pull back the wire 16. Therefore, a constant restoring force by the spring bands 25 and 26 acts as a load on the user who wants to spread the lower leg after the lower leg is spread more than a predetermined angle.

  Next, when the opened lower leg is closed, the wire 15 is wound around the winding drum 21 by the rewinding of the spring bands 25 and 26 in the constant load spring unit 20 due to the movement of the foot 12 and the slider 11, and the stopper 19 If it hits the wall surface 24a and no further winding is possible, then the spring 16 will be elastically restored to the normal state.

According to the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1, as shown by an arrow C in FIG. 4, the pair of foot molds 12 moves upward according to the inclined slide rail 6, so that the user aligns the knees. Even if the exercise of spreading the lower leg is performed, the position of the foot rises and the knee height does not rise or fall as shown in FIG. Therefore, since it is possible to exercise without moving the painful knee itself, muscle groups outside the knee can be trained without difficulty.
The knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1 is configured such that the load of the spring 16 and the constant load spring unit 20 acts in two stages in the rotating motion of the user with respect to the thigh axis of the lower leg. Therefore, the load at the beginning of opening from the state where the lower leg is closed shown in FIG. 2 can be reduced, and the lower leg can be exercised without difficulty. On the other hand, when the lower leg is opened as shown in FIG. Strengthen the muscles outside the knee.

  In the outer knee muscle group strengthening method of the present embodiment, as described above, the foot mold 12 is slid to strengthen the outer muscle group, and in particular, the slide head 6 is inclined so that the knee head does not move. Prevents pain during exercise. However, if the foot moves so as to draw an arc around the kneecap, the vertical movement of the kneecap can be further suppressed. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1 is shown by inclining the straight slide rail 6, but more preferably, the slide rail is formed in an arc shape so that the leg is curved in a curved manner from the center of the apparatus to the left and right outside. It may be configured to slide so that the mold 12 is raised.

As mentioned above, although the embodiment was shown and demonstrated about the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus which concerns on this invention, this invention is not limited to this, A various change is possible in the range which does not deviate from the meaning.
For example, the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 1 of the above embodiment is configured such that the foot 12 slides with respect to the slide rail 6, but the skid mechanism of the foot 12 is not limited to this. Absent. Further, the elastic member that exhibits a stepwise load may be other than the combination of the spring 16 and the constant load spring unit 20.

It is the figure which showed the implementation state of the outside knee muscle group reinforcement method from the side. It is the figure which showed the implementation state of the knee outer side muscle group reinforcement | strengthening method from the front. It is the figure which showed the implementation state of the knee outer side muscle group reinforcement | strengthening method from the front. It is the front view which showed one Embodiment of the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus. It is the top view which showed the constant load spring unit. It is the side view which showed the constant load spring unit. It is the external appearance perspective view which showed the conventional O leg correction exercise | movement apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus 6 Slide rail 11 Slider 12 Foot type 13 Mounting bracket 15 Spring 16 Wire 20 Constant load spring unit 21 Rewind drum 22, 23 Rewind drum 25, 26 Spring belt

Claims (3)

A pair of foot molds that position both feet of the user,
A pair of guide members that are formed symmetrically so as to move laterally from the center side to the left and right outer sides of the pair of foot molds, and are inclined so that the left and right outer sides are higher than the center side;
An osteoarthritis treatment characterized by having an elastic member coupled to the foot shape so that the foot shape moving laterally of the guide member provides resistance when moving to the left and right outside apparatus. In the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus according to claim 1,
The guide member is formed linearly or in a circular arc shape, is pivotally supported at the center side, and is provided with a height adjustment mechanism capable of height adjustment in the vertical direction on the left and right sides. A device for treating knee osteoarthritis characterized by the above. In the knee osteoarthritis treatment apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The device for treating knee osteoarthritis characterized in that the elastic member is a member in which a spring member whose restoring force is increased by elongation and a constant load spring member capable of outputting a constant restoring force are connected in series. .

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