JPH11253560A - Low frequency medical treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect a fatigue degree by using an electrode owned by this low frequency medical treatment apparatus itself, and control a low frequency output in response to the detected fatigue degree. SOLUTION: This low frequency medical treatment apparatus comprises a pair of electrodes 1, 2 which are brought into contact with the surface of the skin of a human body, an electric stimulation generating part 5 which feeds a current to apply an electric stimulation to the skin, to the electrodes 1, 2, an electric stimulation control part 6 which controls the electric stimulation amount being output from the generating part 5, an inducing muscle electric potential detecting part 7 to detect an inducing muscle electric potential which is generated from a muscle existing between the electrode 1, 2, and a fatigue degree estimating part 8 which estimates a fatigue degree by the detected muscle electric potential value, and the value of the estimated fatigue degree is fed to the electric stimulation control part 6, and an electric stimulation which is output from the electric stimulation generating part 5 is changed corresponding with the fatigue degree by the low frequency medical treatment apparatus.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a low-frequency treatment device, and more particularly to a low-frequency treatment device capable of automatically detecting the degree of muscle fatigue and performing low-frequency control in accordance with the degree.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-744 discloses a low-frequency treatment device capable of performing efficient treatment by actively utilizing biological functions. Applying a pulse of a frequency of 3 Hz to 10 Hz to the skin and subcutaneous to enhance the parasympathetic nerve function, and by applying a pulse current at the time of expiration when the parasympathetic nerve is enhanced, to enhance the parasympathetic nerve synergistically, It is effective for the treatment of the state where the physical strength is reduced and the state where the autonomic nervous function is unstable. By applying pulsed current during exhalation when the sympathetic nervous system is enhanced, the sympathetic nervous system function is synergistically enhanced, making it effective for the treatment of bronchial asthma attacks and orthostatic dysregulation. It discloses a technique that.

[0003]

However, for example, the state of shoulder stiffness varies, for example, and individual differences can be dealt with by changes in the current value, voltage value and frequency applied to the electrodes. Estimating the degree of fatigue and performing low-frequency control according to this is not realized in the above prior art. The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and it is an object of the present invention to detect a degree of fatigue using an electrode of a low-frequency treatment device itself and to control a low-frequency output according to the detected degree of fatigue. It is an object of the present invention to provide a low-frequency treatment device that can be used.

[0004]

A pair of electrodes to be brought into contact with the skin surface of a human body, an electric stimulus generator for supplying a current to these electrodes for applying electric stimulus to the skin,
An electrical stimulation control unit that controls the amount of electrical stimulation output from the generation unit; an evoked myoelectric potential detection unit that detects evoked myoelectric potential generated from muscles existing between the electrodes; A fatigue degree estimating unit for estimating the degree of fatigue, supplies the estimated value of the degree of fatigue to the electrical stimulation control unit, and changes the electrical stimulation output from the electrical stimulation generation unit in accordance with the degree of fatigue. It is to let.

[0005]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a low-frequency treatment device according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the electrodes of a low-frequency treatment device and the control circuit thereof. In addition, since the configuration of the main body, electrode shape, and the like of the low-frequency treatment device are the same as those of a commercially available low-frequency treatment device, the drawings and description thereof are omitted.

In FIG. 1, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote electrodes of a low-frequency treatment device, in which pads (not shown) made of a conductive resin are housed in a case (not shown) made of a thermoplastic resin.
The cords 3 and 4 connected to the pads are respectively connected to an electric stimulus generation unit 5, and an electric stimulus control unit 6 is connected to the electric stimulus generation unit 5.

On the other hand, the cords 3 and 4 are branched before the electric stimulus generating section 5 and connected to an evoked myoelectric potential measuring section 7, and an output of the evoked myoelectric potential measuring section 7 is connected to a fatigue degree estimating section 8. ing.

The output of the fatigue level estimating section 8 is supplied to the electrical stimulation control section 6. By the way, the measurement of the myoelectric potential is roughly classified into two methods (Journal of the Biomechanism Society, Vol. 17, No. 4 [1993] 223-22).
8).

One is the surface electrode method, which is used in sports science to evaluate muscle activity during exercise and muscle load in the field of ergonomics, and further in application fields such as control of prosthetic arms and prostheses in the rehabilitation area. In order to know the activity of the whole muscle, it is based on a surface electrode attached to the skin surface.

Another one is a needle electrode method, which uses a needle electrode which is used for diagnosing neuromuscular diseases and analyzing individual motor unit activities. It has been reported that the conduction velocity of action potentials generated when muscles are activated is reduced by muscle fatigue.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, muscle fatigue is estimated by using the electrodes of the low-frequency treatment device as surface electrodes for measuring myoelectric potential, and the output of the low-frequency treatment device corresponding to the degree of fatigue is controlled. It is assumed that.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be briefly described. When the power of the low-frequency treatment device is turned on, the low-frequency current of the initial set value generated by the electrical stimulation generation unit 5 is alternately supplied from the electrodes 1 and 2 to the skin surface of the body.

When the electrode 1 outputs a low frequency, the electrode 1 becomes a detection electrode and the electrode 2 becomes a reference electrode for a certain period after the output. The action potential of the muscle (potential difference between the electrodes 1 and 2) due to this current is detected by the same electrodes 1 and 2, and the detected value is supplied to the evoked electromyogram measurement unit 7 via the leads 3 and 4.

The evoked electromyogram obtained by this measurement is as shown in FIG. 2, and the response becomes slow when fatigued.
The degree of fatigue can be estimated from the time (latency) from the generation of electrical stimulation to the peak waveform.

In this way, the evoked electromyogram measuring section 7 estimates the degree of fatigue from the detected value (the latency value of the peak waveform), and inputs this data to the electrical stimulation control section 6. The electrical stimulus control unit 6 calculates electrical stimulus data corresponding to the fatigue level, sends the data to the electrical stimulus generation unit 5, and causes the electrodes 1 and 2 to output an optimal low frequency corresponding to the fatigue level.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the latency and the degree of fatigue.
This is an approximation of the relationship between subjective reported values of fatigue obtained from some subjects and conduction velocities of evoked potentials measured from latencies at that time. The drawn straight line is x = 3.5, y =
0, x = 1.0, a straight line passing through y = 100.

The vertical axis indicates the reported value 100 when the tiredness is highest, and 0 when the tiredness is not felt at all.
, And a relative value level equally divided into 100 is allocated.

In this embodiment, when the evoked potential is measured, the conduction velocity cannot be measured from the latency unless the distance between the electrodes 1 and 2 is kept constant. To keep the distance between each electrode unchanged,
Alternatively, it is necessary to devise to calculate the degree of fatigue from the ratio based on the latency measured first.

Next, low-frequency control will be described. In order to prevent excessive current from flowing into the muscle, the low-frequency therapeutic device changes the intensity by controlling the interval of applying the stimulus while keeping the voltage constant. Let me.

Therefore, when the degree of fatigue is high, the interval is shortened to increase the total amount of stimulation, promote good blood circulation, and reduce lactic acid in muscle. That is,
Interval = constant / interval that satisfies the estimated fatigue value is obtained, and the timing for applying a low frequency is controlled by this.

As an example, it is effective to set the interval to 2 seconds when the estimated fatigue value is 0 and to set the interval to 0.5 when the estimated fatigue value is 100.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, effective low-frequency treatment can be easily performed by controlling the interval of stimulation of the low-frequency treatment device according to the degree of fatigue estimated from the evoked potential. It is possible to provide a low frequency treatment device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a low frequency treatment device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram of an evoked potential.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between a degree of fatigue and a conduction velocity of an evoked potential.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 electrode 2 electrode 3 lead 4 lead 5 electric stimulus generation part 6 electric stimulus control part 7 evoked potential measurement part 8 fatigue degree estimation part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pair of electrodes to be brought into contact with the skin surface of a human body, an electrical stimulus generator for supplying a current to these electrodes for applying electrical stimulus to the skin, and electricity output from the generator An electrical stimulation control unit for controlling the amount of stimulation, an evoked myoelectric potential detection unit for detecting an evoked myoelectric potential generated from the muscle existing between the electrodes, and a fatigue degree estimation for estimating the degree of fatigue from the detected myoelectric potential value And supplying the estimated value of the degree of fatigue to the electrical stimulation control unit, and changing the electrical stimulation output from the electrical stimulation generation unit in accordance with the degree of fatigue. Therapeutic device. 2. The electrical stimulus from the electrical stimulus generator, wherein the amount of the electrical stimulus is varied by maintaining a constant voltage value and controlling an interval interval of the electrical stimulus applied to the muscle. 2. The low frequency treatment device according to 1.