RU197742U1 - MIRROR SIMULATOR - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to medical equipment in the field of neurology, neurosurgery, rehabilitation and can be used to restore patients with hemiparesis, upper or lower monoparesis, complex regional pain limb syndrome, unilateral neglect, with kinesiophobia. The mirror simulator contains a controller for processing signals transmitted between healthy and diseased limbs, a power supply unit for electrical components, and sensors for registering the position of the fingers of the hand; a pad with a manipulator rigidly fixed on it in one plane, containing a forearm holder with hand straps made of textile fasteners, rigidly fixed on the platform with a screw connection, a manipulator finger phalanx mount made in the form of a plastic phalanx half ring with fixing tapes connected by an annular hinge to a linear variable resistor rigidly fixed to the platform and a reflector containing a stepper motor located on the opposite side of the platform in its lower part, rigidly fixed to it by means of a screw fastening, a gear pulley mounted on the shaft by means of a screw connection, in a niche of the working surface of the platform a bearing is mounted on the opposite side of the engine with a pin installed in it, onto which the pulley is fixed to form a gear pair of the drive belt and pulleys, the lower pole of the plastic slider is rigidly fixed to the drive belt, in the central part of which a hole is made the diameter of which is 0.2 mm larger than the diameter of the guide, the slider is made with the possibility of free movement of the slider along the axis of the guide, to the plastic slider, on its upper pole with the help of an aluminum ring hinge, the phalanx of the reflector finger is fixed, the ends located on opposite poles of each guide, and the distance between the limit switches corresponds to the distance limited by the working size of the linear variable resistor of the manipulator, a lodgement that fixes the wrist of the affected hand with a textile fastener; electronic control unit with a microcontroller and a stepper motor driver, connecting the reflector and the manipulator via wired communication. 3 ill.

Description

The utility model relates to medical equipment in the field of neurology, neurosurgery, rehabilitation and can be used to restore patients with hemiparesis, upper or lower monoparesis, complex regional pain limb syndrome, unilateral neglect, with kinesiophobia.

Mirror therapy is actively used as the most affordable means of feedback. Mirror therapy is an affordable method of restoring lost movements, as well as treating pain syndromes by creating artificial visual feedback. The principle of this therapy is as follows - in front of a patient with unilateral motor (sensory) disorders, a mirror is placed with a reflection in the direction of a healthy hand, so when the patient looks in the mirror at his diseased limb, he sees a reflection of a healthy one. When performing various motor tasks with a healthy limb, its mirror image is perceived as a sick limb, so the patient has a feeling that the diseased arm (leg) works as healthy (Nazarova M.A., Piradov M.A. MIRROR THERAPY IN NEURO REHABILITATION. BCW. 2014. T. 22. No. 22. S. 1563-1566. ELIBRARY ID: 22903481).

A rehabilitation and massage device for the wrist and fingers is known (RU No. 2683071, IPC А63В 23/16, А61Н 23/00, published June 1, 2018), containing a base with a block for fixing the hand and a mechanism for moving the finger into motion, containing a mount for the fingertip . The mechanism for driving a finger into motion contains five flat five-link hinge mechanisms, mounted in such a way that their planes coincide with the physiological plane of movement of each finger. The mechanism for driving one finger contains one flat five-link hinge mechanism, in the central hinge of which there is a mount for the tip of the fingers, and each lower link is rigidly connected to the shaft of the electric drive of rotation, mounted next to it on the base and independently connected to the electronic control unit.

Common signs are only the purpose of the device - bringing the movements of the fingers and the need to fix the device to the nail phalanx of the affected limb.

The disadvantages include the lack of work of a preserved limb and the use of mirror therapy. For safe operation of the rehabilitation and massage device, the mount for the fingertips can be equipped with a safety catch. In the inventive device, the restriction of excessive movement is carried out both by electronic feedback due to the work of the limit switches, and by physical restriction of movement of the Reflector slider.

The scientific article “Development of a simulator for restoring the mobility of isolated joints of the fingers” eLIBRARY ID: 25290914 describes a simulator for restoring the mobility of fingers in open Internet sources called the “Bud simulator”. The simulator consists of a base, a hand mount frame, a movable frame with straps for fastening the fingers, an electric motor for moving the movable frame, a control unit for adjusting the fingers to different lengths. The electric motor has a position sensor to limit the extreme positions of the movable frame. The control unit can stop the movement of the simulator when exceeding the permissible current consumption of the electric motor in order to prevent injuries with strong rigidity of the muscles of the fingers. The base and frame are made of aluminum corner. The base is covered with soft material. The movable frame is driven by an electric motor. The axis of the movable frame passes through the carpal-metacarpal joints of the hand. 4 belts are fixed on the movable frame with fastening under the distal phalanx of each finger. The mounting height of the first phalanx changes.

A common sign with the claimed device is the purpose of the device for the affected limb, the use of an electric drive for the passive movement of the fingers of the affected brush, fixation of the fingers of the hand, no similarities were found in design.

The disadvantages include the undifferentiated movement of the fingers, the effect only on the affected limb and the absence of the principle of visual feedback.

A known simulator (RU No. 175324, IPC A61H 1/02, published November 30, 2017) containing a hand mount unit in the form of a base made with the possibility of fastening on the outside of the forearm and hand and connected to it a drive unit and means for attaching fingers . The drive unit is arranged to move over the base along a guide rigidly installed in its front part and comprises a motor connected to a rotationally mounted shaft and an angle sensor for the simulator position, and consoles mounted on the sides of the drive unit and directed towards the hand. The movable part of the simulator made in the form of two pairs of levers located on both sides of the longitudinal axis of the drive unit and pivotally connected to the consoles. Between the free ends of the second levers of the pair, an axis is rigidly mounted on which the means for fastening the fingers are mounted, made in the form of four chains of pivotally connected links. Finger holders are installed at the free ends of the chains, and the links are made with holes with the possibility of placing at least two cables in them, while the length of the cable placed closer to the finger is less than the length of the cable located at a greater distance from the finger. This simulator bears the commercial name Rejoint in free Internet resources.

Common signs of the claimed device with an analogue are: the use of an electric drive. However, in the inventive device uses a stepper motor, the feedback is organized using limit switches, and the mixing angle of the shaft axis is calculated by the controller based on the position of the finger of a healthy limb.

The disadvantage of the analogue is that this device allows you to bend and unbend your fingers according to a predefined training program. Also, all fingers are bent simultaneously, not allowing to effectively train the affected limb.

The closest analogue adopted for the prototype is the device and method of rehabilitation of the affected limb (US No. 9820908, IPC A61H 1/02, published on 11/21/2017). The device is made in the form of a sensor system for measuring bone movement for a healthy (active) limb, an electronic mechanism for moving individual bones of a sick (passive) limb, a processor and a power supply unit, made in the form of an exoskeleton.

Common signs of the claimed device with the prototype are: the presence of a controller that processes the signals transmitted between a healthy and a diseased limb, the presence of a power supply for electrical components, the presence of sensors that record the position of the fingers.

The main differences are the mechanism for moving the diseased limb (passive): the electric motor drives a screw mechanism that engages a cable attached to the ring of the phalanx of the finger. In the claimed device, the point of attachment of the finger to the device is located in the region of the distal phalanx of the finger, the latter is fixed with the help of a phalanx half-ring with additional Velcro tape fixation, the mechanism of belt transmission of engine torque to the translational movement of the device slider.

The disadvantage of the above device is that the screw structure, which is fixed to the motor shaft, has a low speed of movement of the phalanx of the finger (or exoskeleton), thus it is impossible to achieve synchronous movement of the active and passive limb in practice. This drawback in the inventive device is eliminated by using a gear pair of a drive belt and pulleys. Also, the ring shown, attached to the phalanx of the finger (or the size of the exoskeleton) has a fixed size, for each person it is necessary to develop a design individually. In the inventive device, this restriction is eliminated by using the phalanx half ring and Velcro tape.

The presence of features that are distinctive from the prototype allows us to conclude that the claimed utility model meets the patentability condition of "novelty."

From the analysis of patent and specialized literature, the authors found that the proposed technical solution has features that distinguish it not only from the basic technique of "Mirror Therapy", but also from other well-known technical solutions in this field of medicine.

The developed device uses a mirror feedback mechanism in the presence of hemiparesis syndrome or upper / lower monoparesis, conditionally called "Mirror simulator".

The technical result of the claimed utility model consists in providing the possibility of differentiated movement of each finger, as well as the implementation of mirror therapy using forced locomotion through an auxiliary device due to synchronous movements of healthy and affected limbs, sufficient in speed and accuracy of positioning of structural elements to which fingers are fixed brushes.

The specified technical result is achieved in that the mirror simulator containing a controller for processing signals transmitted between healthy and diseased limbs, a power supply unit for electrical components and sensors for registering the position of the fingers of the hand, according to the utility model, contains a platform with a manipulator rigidly fixed to it in one plane containing a lodgement for forearms with hand fixing straps made of textile fasteners, rigidly fixed on the platform by screw connection, mounting of the manipulator finger phalanx made in the form of a plastic phalanx half ring with fixing tapes, connected by an annular hinge with a linear variable resistor rigidly fixed to the platform, and a reflector containing a step an engine located on the opposite side of the platform in its lower part, rigidly fixed to it by screw fastening, a gear pulley mounted on the shaft by screw connection, in a niche of the working surface of the platform with a bearing is mounted on the opposite side of the engine with a pin installed in it, onto which the pulley is fixed to form a gear pair of the drive belt and pulleys, the lower pole of the plastic slider is rigidly fixed to the drive belt in the central part of which an opening is made, the diameter of which is 0.2 mm larger than the diameter of the guide , the slider is made with the possibility of free movement of the slider along the axis of the guide, to the plastic slider, on its upper pole, using the aluminum ring hinge, the phalanx of the reflector finger is fixed, the ends located on the opposite poles of each guide, and the distance between the ends corresponds to the distance limited by the working the size of the linear variable resistor of the manipulator, a lodgement that fixes the wrist of the affected hand with a textile fastener; electronic control unit with a microcontroller and a stepper motor driver, connecting the reflector and the manipulator via wired communication.

The device is illustrated by drawings.

In FIG. 1 schematically shows a mirror simulator. This diagram illustrates the device in the case of work with the left upper affected limb. If there is a right-sided pathological process, in the device the position of the Reflector (2) will be located on the right, and the Manipulator (3) on the left.

In FIG. 2 shows the algorithm of the mirror simulator.

In FIG. 3. The schematic diagram of the control unit.

The mirror simulator consists of two work areas that are located in the same plane and are fixed on the same square-shaped platform (overall dimensions 800 × 300 × 130 mm) made of Plexiglass material (plastic is also acceptable). The platform is located on 4 plastic supports. Workspaces have the following conventions:

1. Reflector - part of the device designed to work with the affected limb;

2. Manipulator - part of the device designed to work with a healthy limb.

Also on this site is an electronic control unit, which logically connects the Reflector and the Manipulator through wired communication (the use of a wireless signal transmission method is also acceptable), made of textolite boards, has a microcontroller, and a stepper motor driver.

The manipulator (3) has a forearm holder (6), rigidly fixed to the base of the device with a screw connection, having belts made of textile fasteners (Velcro tape) for more convenient and quick fixation of the hand to the device. Each finger of the brush is fixed to the device by attaching the phalanx of the finger of the manipulator (14), which is a plastic phalanx half-ring. This structural element allows you to fix the fingers of any brush sizes, while each phalanx half-ring is equipped with Velcro tapes for more reliable fixation. The phalanx half-ring (14) is connected to a linear variable resistor (4) by means of a ring hinge made of aluminum. The resistor of variable resistance has a rectangular shape with a size of 100 mm × 5 mm, is fixed to the base of the device by any kind of fixed connection (including screw). A linear variable resistor changes its electrical resistance depending on the change in the position of its slider, which is fixed to the finger of a healthy limb using a phalanx half ring (for the lower limb, an orthosis boot with a resistor fixed to it can be used).

The reflector (2) consists of stepper motors, on the opposite side of the working surface of the device (bottom), rigidly fixed with a screw mount, the shaft of which protrudes from the front side of the working surface. A gear pulley GT2-6 is attached to the shaft by means of a screw lock provided for by the pulley design. On the opposite side of the engine is a bearing 605, pressed into a niche of the working surface of the device. A pin is installed in the bearing on which the pulley is fixed, as well as to the shaft of the stepper motor. A gear pair of the drive belt (8) and 2 pulleys (12) is formed: one active, which is fixed to the motor shaft, the second is passive, fixed to the pin opposite to the motor shaft, transmitting torque. The lower pole of the plastic slider (15) is rigidly fixed to the drive belt (screw fixing). In the center of the slider there is an opening, the diameter of which is 0.2 mm larger than the diameter of the guide (13), for the free movement of the slider along the axis of the guide (to reduce the frictional force when the slider moves during operation, it is possible to press a linear bearing into the slider hole). To the plastic slider, at its upper pole, using the aluminum ring hinge, the phalanx mount of the reflector finger is fixed (10). The latter is made of plastic in the form of a phalanx half-ring, the design of which is similar to the corresponding phalanx half-ring of the Manipulator with additional fixation of the fingers of the affected hand using Velcro tape. Limit switches (11) are located on opposite poles of each rail, and the distance between the limit switches corresponds to the distance limited by the working size of the linear manipulator resistor (4). For more convenient operation, the Reflector also has a lodgement (9) that fixes the wrist of the affected hand to the device with a textile fastener (Velcro tape).

Mirror simulator works as follows.

The movements of the fingers of the hand fixed to the Manipulator change the position of the slider of the Manipulator, as a result of which the resistance in the variable resistor, the values of which are transmitted to the microcontroller, is changed by the connection scheme without using wireless interfaces (it is also possible to use wireless interfaces), which is an integral part of the electronic control unit (1) . The developed software processes the signal of the manipulator, transfers the control signal to the stepper motor driver (7). For these purposes, you can use any stepper motor that meets the requirements for power and radius of step. The device uses a PL42H48-D5 stepper motor. The PL42H48-D5 bipolar stepper motor is capable of providing traction of 5.5 kg. The specified load will not lead to damage to the osteo-ligamentous apparatus of the hand (safe), however, it is able to overcome resistance in the event of spastic contracture of mild to moderate fingers. A stepper motor (7) drives the mechanism of the reflector on a belt drive (8, 10, 11, 12). A synchronous and accurate movement of the fingers of both limbs.

To control mirror therapy with a simulator, it is possible to use ENMG sensors to assess the degree of improvement in voluntary muscle contraction.

The advantage of the operation of the claimed device compared to mirror therapy is that in addition to visual feedback through the use of the device, there are also signals of proprioceptive and tactile sensitivity, improves the quality of rehabilitation, and also thanks to the direct effect on the affected limb, the CPM- principle therapy (continued passive motion therapy).

The proposed device "mirror simulator" is intended for use in healthcare and can be used in neurology, neurosurgery, rehabilitation.

Claims (1)

Mirror simulator containing a controller for processing signals transmitted between healthy and diseased limbs, a power supply unit for electrical components and sensors for registering the position of the fingers of the hand, characterized in that it contains a pad with a manipulator rigidly fixed on it in one plane, containing a lodgement for the forearm with hand fixation straps from a textile fastener, rigidly fixed on the site by a screw connection, the mounting of the phalanx of the manipulator finger, made in the form of a plastic phalanx half ring with fixing tapes, connected by an annular hinge with a linear variable resistor rigidly fixed to the platform, and a reflector containing a stepper motor placed with the opposite side of the platform in its lower part, rigidly fixed to it by screw mounting, a gear pulley mounted on the shaft by screw connection, a bearing is pressed into the niche of the working surface of the platform from the opposite side of the engine with a pin installed in it, on which the pulley is fixed with the formation of a gear pair of the drive belt and pulleys, the lower pole of the plastic slider is rigidly fixed to the drive belt, in the central part of which a hole is made, the diameter of which is 0.2 mm larger than the diameter of the guide, the slider is made with with the possibility of free movement of the slider along the axis of the guide, to the plastic slider, on its upper pole, using the aluminum ring hinge, the phalanx mount of the reflector finger is fixed, the ends located on opposite poles of each guide, and the distance between the ends corresponds to the distance limited by the working size of the linear variable resistor a manipulator, a lodgement, fixing the wrist of the affected hand with a textile fastener; electronic control unit with a microcontroller and a stepper motor driver, connecting the reflector and the manipulator via wired communication.

Images