KR101954028B1 - Joint assist apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, provided is a joint assist device which comprises: a band portion which is superimposed on both ends to surround upper and lower sides of a joint; a buckle including a female fastening portion and a male fastening portion which are connected to each other at upper and lower portions of the band portion; a hinge portion mounted on both sides at the center of the band portion to support the movement of the joint; and a band tightening portion for finely adjusting tightening strength of the band portion by being coupled to the female fastening portion of the buckle. Accordingly, there is an advantage that a user can wear the joint assist device more easily on the joint part, and the tightening strength can be always kept constant.

Description

[0001] JOINT ASSIST APPARATUS [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a joint assist device, and more particularly, to an articulation assist device that can be worn on a joint part of a human body to protect movement of a joint.

In general, the joint cartilage is worn or injured due to various causes such as a safety accident such as a fall in daily life, degenerative arthritis caused by aging, injury caused by sports activities, traffic accident, disaster disaster, If this persists, the physician will prescribe a joint assist device for conservative treatment before and after the operation.

Among these assistive devices, when the ROM (Range of Motion) is restricted within a certain range of motion of the knee joint and the fixation is required to prevent the forward and backward deviation of the shin bone below the knee, a knee joint assist device do.

As an example of such a conventional knee joint assist device, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1492477 discloses a knee joint device which is vertically extended with respect to a knee of a wearer and is made easier to use by a wearer by means of at least two detachable means (buckle and tightening mechanism) So as to adjust the tightening strength.

However, in the conventional knee joint assist device, the tightening mechanism system using the wire is dependent on the feeling of tightness felt by the wearer, so that the tightening strength is not constant each time, so that it loosens depending on the tightening strength, there is a problem.

In addition, in the case of infants and paralysis patients and wearers with unclear expressions, it is worn by another person. In this case, it is very difficult to appropriately adjust the tightening strength.

Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1492477 (Publication Date: February 11, 2015)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a joint assisting device capable of automatically adjusting a tightening strength with respect to a joint part.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a joint assisting apparatus comprising: a band portion having both ends overlapping to surround upper and lower portions of a joint; A buckle including a female body part and an male fastening part connected to each other at upper and lower portions of the band part; A hinge portion provided on both sides of the center of the band portion to support the movement of the joint; And a band tightening part coupled to the arm body part of the buckle and finely adjusting the tightening strength of the band part, wherein the band tightening part comprises: a base member installed at least one of upper and lower parts of the band part; A winding member which is rotatably installed on the base member and on which a string is wound so that the arm fastening portion can be pulled; A rotating lid unit rotatably installed on the base member so as to cover the winding member; And a fastening stopper member for restricting rotation of the rotary lid unit when the fastener string is rotated in the tightening direction.

In a joint auxiliary device according to an aspect of the present invention, a base member includes: a plate-shaped base portion; A receiving portion protruding from the base portion to rotatably receive the winding member; A first hook formed at a lower portion of the accommodating portion to prevent disengagement of the winding member; And a second hook protruding from an inner bottom of the accommodating portion so as to be positioned at the rotation center of the revolving lid unit and supporting the retaining position and the releasing position respectively while preventing the revolving lid unit from being disengaged, The rotary lid unit is provided on the base member so as to be rotatable in one direction. The rotary lid unit is provided with a drive gear portion selectively gear-connected to the follower gear portion. And is disposed movably between the follower synchronizer and the release position separated from the follower fisherman.

In the joint assisting apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention, the revolving lid unit is rotatably hooked to the second hook, and is rotatably supported by the second hook, 1 and a second locking groove, and having a screw hole at the center thereof; A rotating member coupled to the shaft member so as to cover the winding member and provided so as to correspond to the longitudinal synchronizing member on the inner side facing the winding member; And a fastening screw for fastening the rotary member and the shaft member together so as to be rotated together.

The joint auxiliary apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention further includes a latch unit that limits the rotation lid unit to be rotated in only one direction so that the winding member can be rotated in conjunction with the rotation lid unit only in the direction in which the wire is withdrawn and tightened A plurality of fixed elastic latches formed to protrude from the bottom of the base member and located at an outer periphery of the accommodating portion and being incised at regular intervals and being elastically bent in an outer radial direction; And a movable latch which is provided on an outer periphery of the rotary member and is formed uniformly along the circumference in the inner periphery and has a latch groove connected to the fixed elastic latch.

In the joint auxiliary device according to an aspect of the present invention, the fastening stop member includes: an elastic body coupled to a lower portion of the band portion corresponding to the base portion of the base member; A cushion part having one side integrally joined to the lower part of the elastic body and the other side being in contact with the body; And a rotation restricting projection integrally coupled to an upper portion of the elastic body and selectively insertable into a key groove formed at a lower side of the screw coupling hole of the shaft member.

In a joint auxiliary device according to an aspect of the present invention, the hinge portion includes: a housing supported by a band portion; A hinge coupled to the interior of the housing; An upper strut having one side coupled to the upper side of the band portion and the other side rotatably supported on the hinge; And a lower strut, one side of which is coupled to the lower side of the band portion and the other side of which is rotatably supported by the hinge. The lower strut is compressed and elongated within the housing with respect to the rotation direction of the lower strut between the housing and the upper side of the lower strut, And a spring and silicon for supporting are interposed.

As described above, according to the joint assisting apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to easily wear the joint part of the wearer and maintain the tightening strength at a constant level.

1 is a front view showing an articulation assist apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an exploded view showing a band tightening part of the joint auxiliary device of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view partially showing the part of FIG. 2. FIG.
Fig. 4 is an assembled cross-sectional view of Fig. 1, showing a state for loosening or loosening the fastening band of the band tightening portion. Fig.
Fig. 5 is an assembled cross-sectional view of Fig. 1 showing a state in which a drawstring of a band tightening portion is tightened. Fig.
Fig. 6 is a view showing a state in which rotation of the rotary lid unit of the band tightening unit is restricted in Fig. 5;

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Prior to this, terms and words used in the present specification and claims should not be construed as limited to ordinary or dictionary terms, and the inventor should appropriately interpret the concepts of the terms appropriately It should be interpreted in accordance with the meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that it can be defined.

Therefore, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the technical ideas of the present invention are described. Therefore, It should be understood that various equivalents and modifications may be present.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a joint assistance device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing a band tightening part of the joint assist device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a partially cut- It is a perspective view.

1 to 3, the joint assisting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a band portion 1000 having both ends overlapping and covering upper and lower portions of a joint (e.g., a knee) K); A buckle 2000 having length adjustable members 2100 at the upper and lower parts of the band part 1000 and including a female body part 2200 and a male fastening part 2300 connected to each other; A hinge part 3000 installed on both sides of the center of the band part 1000 to support the movement of the knee K; And a band tightening part 4000 coupled to the arm body part 2200 of the buckle 2000 to finely adjust the tightening strength of the band part 1000. [

The band portion 1000 may be formed of a stretchable material so as to be hermetically contacted to the user's body. It is a matter of course that the buckle 2000 is inserted into the inside of the arm body part 2200 by the male fastening part 2300 and is detachable by the hook method.

The hinge portion 3000 is provided to allow bending of the knee K of the wearer. The hinge unit 3000 includes a housing 3100 supported by the band unit 1000 and a hinge 3200 coupled to the interior of the housing 3100. The hinge unit 3000 includes a hinge unit 3000 having one side coupled to the upper side of the band unit 1000, An upper strut 3300 rotatably supported on the hinge 3200 and a lower strut 3400 having one side coupled to the lower side of the band portion 1000 and the other side rotatably supported on the hinge 3200. At this time, between the housing 3100 and the upper side of the lower strut 3400, the lower strut 3400 is compressed and elongated inside the housing 3100 with respect to the rotation direction of the lower strut 3400 according to the movement of the wearer, The silicon substrate 3110 and the silicon 3120 may be interposed.

The band throttle unit 4000 includes a base member 100 installed at least one of upper and lower parts of the band unit 1000, a winding member 200 rotatably installed in the base member 100, A rotating lid unit 300 rotatably installed on the base member 100 to cover the latch unit 400, and a fastening stopper 500.

The base member 100 includes a plate-shaped base portion 110, a receiving portion 120 protruding from the base portion 110 to rotatably receive the winding member 200, And includes a first hook 130 and a second hook 140 installed inside.

The receiving portion 120 is formed to have a substantially circular space on the base portion 110 so as to rotatably accommodate the winding member 200 and is installed in the shape of a circular band at a height corresponding to the winding member 200 , And is preferably formed integrally with the base portion 110.

The first hook 130 is integrally formed at the lower portion of the receiving portion 120, and a plurality of the first hooks 130 are formed at regular intervals in the circumferential direction. The lower flange portion 240 of the winding member 200 is elastically engaged with the first hook 130 so that the winding member 200 is supported so as to be able to rotate without being disengaged from the accommodating portion 120 .

The second hook 140 is formed at a position spaced apart from the center of the winding member 200 of the receiving portion 120. The second hook 140 is disposed at the center of rotation of the rotating lid unit 300. [ The second hook 140 elastically supports the shaft member 310 of the rotating lid unit 300 to be described later and moves the shaft member 310 in the axial direction, that is, between the restraining position and the releasing position .

The second hook 140 protrudes from the base 110 and is preferably formed integrally with the base 110.

Herein, the restraint position is a position where the rotary lid unit 300 is moved so that the drive gear unit 330 of the rotary lid unit 300 is gear-connected to the follower gear unit 220, And a position where the rotation lid unit 300 is moved so that the gear connection of the fisher unit 220 is separated. Therefore, in the restraining position, the winding member 200 is rotated together with the rotation of the rotating lid unit 300 according to the rotation of the rotating lid unit 300 and the rotation is restricted. In the releasing position, 200 can be freely rotated.

The winding member 200 includes a body 210 rotatably installed in the accommodating portion 120 and having a hollow and a coiled string 10 wound around the outer circumference of the body 210 and an inner circumference of the body 210, And upper and lower flange portions 230 and 240 respectively formed on the outer periphery of the follower portion 220 and the body 210. The body 210 has a cylindrical shape, and a follower fisher unit 220 is integrally formed on the inner hollow center of the center. Two stringers 10 are wound around the outer periphery of the body 210 and upper and lower flange portions 230 and 240 are formed integrally on the outer periphery of the body 210 to prevent the pull- . The lower flange portion 240 is hung on the first hook 130 and supported.

The rotary lid unit 300 includes a shaft member 310, a rotary member 320, a driver unit 330, and a fastening screw 340.

The shaft member 310 is installed at the center of rotation and is elastically coupled to the second hook 140. The shaft member 310 is coupled to the second hook 140 at each of the restricting position and the releasing position, 1 and second locking grooves 311, 312, respectively. Since the inner lower end of the second locking groove 312 is complementary to the shape of the second hook 140, the second locking groove 312 serves as a latching jaw for preventing the second hook 140 from being separated from the upper portion when coupled to the second hook 140 .

5) is the restraining position and the second hook 140 is engaged with the second locking groove 312 (refer to FIG. 4), the second hook 140 is engaged with the first locking groove 311 ) Corresponds to the release position. A screw hole 313 is formed at the center of the shaft member 310 and a key groove 313a is formed at a lower side of the screw hole 313.

The rotating member 320 is coupled to the shaft member 310 so as to cover the winding member 200 and the driving device unit 330 is installed inside the winding member 200 facing the winding member 200. The rotary member 320 has a disk shape and a coupling hole 321 through which a fastening screw 340 is coupled is formed at the center. Further, the outer periphery of the rotating member 320 is provided with a concavo-convex portion 322 for preventing slippage when the user rotates it by hand.

The driving unit 330 is installed at the center of the inner side of the rotating member 320 facing the winding member 200 and is integrally formed with the rotating member 320. The drive gear unit 330 has a smaller number of gear teeth than the follower gear unit 220 and is disposed inside the winding member 200 to be gear-connected to the follower gear unit 220.

The fastening screw 340 is screwed to the coupling hole 321 of the rotary member 320 and the threaded hole 313 of the shaft member 310 so that the rotary member 320 and the shaft member 310 are coaxial with each other So that they can be rotated together.

The rotary lid unit 300 is positionally movable between the restraint position and the release position while the shaft member 310 is engaged with the second hook 140 and is rotatable in each of the restraint position and the release position, It is rotatable so that the clamping band 10 is wound on the winding member 200 while being rotated by the latch unit 400 in the opposite direction Do. 4, since the gear connection between the follower synchronizer 220 and the drive gear 330 is disconnected, the coil spring 200 can be easily freely rotated by an external force , The tightly wound tightening band 10 can be loosened.

The latch unit 400 includes a plurality of fixed elastic latches 410 protruding from the bottom of the base member 110 and a plurality of fixed elastic latches 410 mounted on the outer circumferential portion of the rotational member 320 to surround the fixed elastic latches 410, And a movable latch 420 that is complementarily coupled to the latch 410. [

The fixed elastic latches 410 are arranged in a circular arc with respect to the center of rotation of the rotary member 320 and are formed with a larger radius than the receiving portion 120 and are preferably formed integrally with the base member 110 . The fixed elastic member 410 has a structure in which a part of the lower end is integrally fixed to the base member 110 and the other part of the lower end is separated from the base member 110 to have elasticity and has a structure bent radially outward, And has a structure in which it is caught by the movable latch 420.

The movable latch 420 is provided on the outer periphery of the rotary member 320 and has a latch groove 421 formed in the inner periphery thereof in the circumferential direction. The latch groove 421 is complementarily engaged with the elastic end portion 411 of the fixed elastic latch 410 so that rotation of the rotational member 320 in the A direction is inhibited and rotation in the B direction is permitted. The elastic end portion 411 is resilient in the outward direction, that is, in the direction in which it is in close contact with the inner circumferential side of the movable latch 420, so that it is always held in the engaged state with the latch groove 421 of the movable latch 420. By providing the fixed elastic latches 410 so as to be located on the inner peripheral side of the movable latches 420, it is possible to prevent the fixed elastic latches 410 from being excessively widened outwardly or excessively elastically deformed and broken , It is possible to maintain constant elasticity. Therefore, the rotation of the rotary lid unit 300 in the direction A can be stably held to prevent the tightening band 10 from being unwound, and the product can be used for a long time.

The through holes through which the string 10 is passed are respectively formed in the lower portions of the receiving portion 120 and the fixed elastic latches 410 so that the string 10 is released from the winding member 200 to the outside, As shown in Fig.

The fastening stopper 500 includes an elastic body 510 coupled to a lower portion of the band portion 1000 corresponding to the base portion 110 of the base member 100 by fastening means such as a bolt, And a key groove 313a integrally coupled to the upper portion of the elastic body 510 and formed below the screw coupling hole 313 of the shaft member 310. The cushion portion 520 is integrally coupled to the elastic member 510, And a rotation restricting protrusion 530 that can be inserted into the rotation restricting protrusion 530 selectively.

The elastic body 510 may be formed in a plate spring shape having a constant thickness, spaced apart gradually from the bottom of the base 110 toward the center thereof.

The cushion part 520 is urged from the elastic body 510 deformed by the band part 1000 to which a compressive force is applied when the rotary member 320 rotates in the direction of tightening the clamping band 10 Lt; / RTI > The cushion part 520 is preferably filled with a fluid such as air to have a constant cushion.

The rotation restricting projection 530 may be provided with a plurality of keys 531 protruding in a cylindrical shape from the elastic body 510 and inserted into the key groove 313a formed in the shaft member 310 on the outer circumferential surface.

Hereinafter, the operation of the above-described joint assist device will be described with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 4 is an assembled cross-sectional view of Fig. 1 showing a state for loosening or loosening the fastening band of the band tightening part, Fig. 5 is an assembled cross-sectional view of Fig. 1 showing a state in which the fastening band of the band tightening part is tightened, 6 is a view showing a state in which rotation of the rotation lid unit of the band tightening portion is restricted in Fig.

When it is desired to tighten the pull string 10, the rotary lid unit 300 is pushed in the direction of arrow (lower side) to position it as the restraint position, as shown in Fig. Then, the driver unit 330 and the follower unit 220 are gear-connected. When the rotary member 320 is rotated in the direction of arrow B in this state, the winding member 200 is rotated by interlocking the drive unit 330 and the follower unit 220, and the winding member 10 is wound while being recovered. As described above, the joint member can be tightened by allowing the coil spring 10 to be withdrawn from the winding member 200. When the rotation of the rotation member 320 is stopped and the rotation of the rotation member 320 is stopped as much as desired after the tightening member 10 is tightened, The latch unit 400 is restrained from rotating in the direction A, that is, the direction in which the clamping band 10 is unwound from the winding member 200. Therefore, the tightening band 10 can be maintained in the tightened state.

When the tension member 10 is wound on the winding member 200 with a predetermined length, a compressive force is applied to the band member 1000. At this time, as the cushion member 520 is pressed by the band member 1000, And then spread out in the upward direction). 6, a plurality of keys 531 of the rotation restricting projection 530 are inserted into the key groove 313a formed in the shaft member 310 to rotate the rotation member 320 in the direction of arrow B Becomes impossible.

Conversely, in order to loosen or loosen the tightening band 10, when the rotary member 320 is held by hand in the state of Fig. 5 and pulled in the opposite direction of the arrow in Fig. 5, the rotary lid unit 300 is rotated And is moved away from the base member 100 to the release position. In this state, since the gear connection between the driving gear unit 330 and the follower gear unit 220 is released, the winding member 200 is freely rotatable, so that the tightened state of the tightening strap 10, which has been tightly tightened, So that the winding member 200 can be rotated while being loosened.

According to the joint assisting apparatus of the present invention as described above, it is possible to easily wear the joint part of the wearer and maintain the tightening strength at a constant level.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

1000: band portion
2000: Buckle
3000: Hinge section
4000: Band throttle
100: Base member
200: winding member
300: rotating lid unit
400: latch unit
500: fastening stop member

Claims (6)

A band portion having both ends overlapping to surround upper and lower portions of the joint; A buckle including a female body part and an male fastening part connected to each other at upper and lower portions of the band part; A hinge portion provided on both sides of the center of the band portion to support movement of the joint; And a band tightening part coupled to the arm body part of the buckle for finely adjusting the tightening strength of the band part,
Wherein the band tightening portion comprises: a base member provided at least one of upper and lower portions of the band portion; A winding member that is rotatably installed on the base member and on which a string is wound to pull the arm fastening portion; A rotating lid unit rotatably installed on the base member so as to cover the winding member; And a fastening stopper member for restricting rotation of the rotary lid unit when the fastener string is rotated in the tightening direction,
The base member includes a plate-shaped base portion; A receiving portion protruding from the base portion and rotatably receiving the winding member; A first hook formed at a lower portion of the receiving portion to prevent the winding member from departing; And a second hook protruding from an inner bottom of the receiving part so as to be positioned at a rotational center of the rotating lid unit and movably supporting the rotating lid unit while preventing the rotating lid unit from being disengaged,
Wherein the winding member is provided with a longitudinal synchronizing fisher unit on its inner circumference,
Wherein the rotation lid unit has a drive unit that is rotatably mounted to the base member in one direction and that is selectively gear-connected to the follower unit, and wherein the drive unit is connected to the follower synchronizer, And a releasing position which is separated from the releasing position,
The rotating lid unit has first and second locking grooves rotatably hooked to the second hook and formed in two upper and lower stages circumferentially so as to be supported by the second hook at the restraining position and the releasing position respectively A shaft member having a screw coupling hole formed at its center; A rotating member coupled to the shaft member so as to cover the winding member, the rotating member being provided on the inner side facing the winding member so as to correspond to the follower synchronizer; And a fastening screw for fastening the rotary member and the shaft member to be rotated together,
Wherein the fastening stopper includes: an elastic body coupled to a lower portion of the band portion corresponding to the base portion of the base member; A cushion part having one side integrally joined to the lower part of the elastic body and the other side being in contact with the body; And a rotation restricting projection integrally coupled to an upper portion of the elastic body and being selectively insertable into a key groove formed at a lower side of the screw coupling hole of the shaft member. delete delete The method according to claim 1,
And a latch unit for restricting the rotation lid unit to rotate only in one direction so that the winding member can be rotated in association with the rotation lid unit only in a direction in which the winding string is collected and tightened,
The latch unit includes:
A plurality of fixed resilient latches protruding from the bottom of the base member and located at an outer periphery of the receptacle, the resilient resilient latches being cut at regular intervals and bent in an outer radial direction; And
And a movable latch provided on an outer periphery of the rotary member and having a latch groove connected to the fixed elastic latch, the constant latch being formed along a circumferential direction on an inner periphery of the rotary member. delete The method according to claim 1,
The hinge unit includes:
A housing supported by the band portion; A hinge coupled to the interior of the housing; An upper strut having one side coupled to the upper side of the band portion and the other side rotatably supported on the hinge; And a lower strut having one side coupled to the lower side of the band portion and the other side rotatably supported on the hinge,
Wherein a spring and silicone are interposed between the housing and the upper side of the lower strut so as to be compressed and elongated in the housing with respect to the rotation direction of the lower strut so as to elastically support the walking.

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