WO2013021336A1

WO2013021336A1 - System and method of determining body mass functional index

Info

Publication number: WO2013021336A1
Application number: PCT/IB2012/054000
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pata V. MURLI KRISHNA
Original assignee: Murli Krishna Pata V
Priority date: 2011-08-05
Filing date: 2012-08-04
Publication date: 2013-02-14
Also published as: WO2013021336A4

Abstract

The present invention provides a method to calculate the Body Mass functional Index (BMFI) of an individual in which combination of both physical aspect as well as functional characteristics of different groups of muscles of the individual can be taken in account while measuring body mass index. Here, Individual work capacity can be measured and calculated using various exercise machines based on work done by all groups of muscles in one hour. The invention would be useful for all humans and more particularly useful to the patients who are suffering from life style diseases like diabetes, Hypertension, cardiovascular disease and geriatrics. Present invention also brings a new avenue of treating, preventing, and promoting life style diseases by systematically strengthening all groups of muscles. The present invention can also be used to promote long life by increasing the Body Mass functional Index (BMFI) and improving the BMFI in a systematic way by continuously giving proper mechanical stimulus to all groups increasing the of muscles, good BMFI put proper good stimulus to vital organs and promote good and long life.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DETERMINING BODY MASS FUNCTIONAL

INDEX

FIELD OF INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a system and method for measuring the strength / capability of different group of muscles of the body in a systematic way and utilizing these measurements to measure the Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] According to world health organization "Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". Body Mass Index (BMI) is widely used as an indicator of health.

[0003] Body mass index is defined as an individual's body weight divided by the square of his or her height. BMI provides a simple numeric measure of a person's "fatness" or "thinness" or his/her fat percentage. However, many times this BMI is inaccurate because many people, including physicians, realize that there was a huge difference between BMI indication and the original health condition of body. This is primarily because the BMI calculation is purely based on weight and height of the individual and not dependent on the functional characteristics of the body, which in turn is based on the strength of each body muscle.

[0004] BMI is particularly inaccurate for younger people (especially males) who are quite fit or athletic, as the higher muscle mass tends to put them in the "overweight" category by conventional BMI, even though their body fat percentages frequently fall in the 10-15% category, which is below that of a more sedentary person of average build who has a "healthy" BMI number. Body composition for athletes is often better calculated based on measures of body using techniques including skin fold measurements and underwater weighing. Further, limitations of manual measurement have also led to new and alternative methods for measuring obesity, such as the body volume index. BMI also does not account for body frame size; for instance, a person may have a small frame and be carrying too much excess fat, but his BMI reflects that they are "healthy". Conversely, a large framed individual may be quite healthy with a fairly low body fat percentage, but might be classified as "overweight" by BMI. A further limitation of BMI relates to loss of height through aging. In this situation, BMI will increase without any corresponding increase in weight.

[0005] Further, the BMI threshold level is not clearly to set for "overweight" and "obese" categories. BMI is frequently used to assess how much an individual's body weight departs from what is normal or desirable for a person of his/her weight. The weight excess or deficiency may, in part be accounted for by body fat, although other factors such as muscularity also affect BMI.

[0006] Body mass index is measured from the numeric value around 15 (Severely underweight) to over 40 (Obese Class III). This statistical spread is usually described using categories; severely underweight, underweight, optimum weight, pre-obese, obese, 'morbidly obese'. The exact index values used to determine weight categories of an individual's percentage of body fat varies from person to person, but in general a BMI lesser than 18.5 is underweight and may indicate malnutrition, an eating disorder, or other health problems, while a BMI greater than 25 is overweight and above 30 is considered obese. Theses range boundaries apply to adults over 18 years of age.

[0007] BMI categories do not take into account factors such as frame size and muscularity, despite this BMI categories are generally regarded as a satisfactory tool for measuring sedentary individuals. The BMI ranges are based on the effect of body weight which directly correlates between disease and death. High BMI means increased risk of diseases due to overweight and obesity, which include premature death, cardiovascular disease, blood pressure, osteoarthritis, diabetes and mellitus. BMI is one of the many factors used to predict risk of diseases. However, conventional BMI cannot be used to tell a person if he/she has affected by a disease such as diabetes or cancer or hypertension, because it only measures the physical characteristics of the person.

[0008] Human body has 57% of tissues in the form of muscles and bones in males and 47% of tissues in the form of muscles and bones, which is in the form of organ system or musculoskeletal system. These organ systems do a variety of actions and functions of our body. There are different tests to assess the functions of different organs of our body. For example, heart function is measured / tested using echo cardiogram, electro cardiogram, tread mill test and other tests, liver function is measured by blood tests for various enzymes it produces, renal function is similarly measured by blood test and various other methods, lungs function is measured using pulmonary function test, brain function is measured by neurological tests, electro encephalogram and other tests. Until now there are no tests to directly measure the functional aspect of the musculoskeletal tissues that is organ system of the human body

[0009] US Patent Publication US20080051679 discloses a body mass analysis system that is capable of identifying actions required to control a person's weight and trending the person's BMI. However, this method requires a lot of time and is also a cost consuming process, wherein tests such as blood test, echo cardiogram, among others are required to control a person's weight and trending the BMI

[00010] PCT Publication WO201 1077275 relates to a method and system for calculating BODE index value of a patient by using Body Mass Index data, the airway obstruction data, the respiration rate data, and the physical activity data. The physical activity data of the system is measured by using six minute walking exercise. [00011] Furthermore, until now, no one has described the minimum activity that one needs to perform for maintaining good health.

[00012] Therefore, there is a need for a method and system to identify minimum action required to maintain good health. Moreover, there exists a need for a system and method that not only takes height and weight factor of the person, which is the physical aspect into consideration, but also the functional aspect of the different musculoskeletal tissues.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[00011] An object of the present invention is to define the amount of work or the minimum action required for humans to sustain good health by calculating Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI) which utilizes both physical and functional aspects of all groups of muscles of the human body.

[00012] It is an another object of the present invention to provide an accurate status of health condition based on different body muscle condition / strength, which is based on functional aspect of the musculoskeletal along with BMI data.

[00013] It is an object of the present invention to provide an accurate status of health condition of an individual by combining BMI data and exercising capability data.

[00014] It is another object of the present invention to provide a minimum action required to accurately determine status of health condition by assessing strength of different body muscles of an individual along with BMI data.

[00012] Another object of the present invention is to prevent one or more life style disease(s) by identifying minimum action required to control a person's weight using individual Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI).

[00013] Another object of the present invention is to provide an accurate status of health condition without involving any drug therapy. [00014] Another object of the present invention is to provide an accurate status of health condition without involving any time and cost consuming methods such as blood test, cardiac diagnostic test, etc.

[00015] Another objects of the present invention is to treat life style diseases like Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension, Obesity, Osteoarthritis of the Hip, Knee by systematically improving the BMFI

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[00016] The present invention provides a method to define the amount of work needed to be done by humans to sustain good health by calculating Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI), wherein BMFI computation utilizes functional aspect of all groups of muscles of human body.

[00017] The present invention provides a method to determine body mass functional index of an individual by combining BMI data and exercising capability data, wherein the exercising capability data helps determine the functional characteristics of different body muscles, without using any drug test.

[00018] The present invention provides a method to determine body mass functional index with the help of functional characteristics of different body muscles along with height and weight data, instead of only using height and weight data.

[00019] The present invention provides a method to calculate the Body Mass functional Index (BMFI) by assessing different functional groups of muscles in the human body for their work capacity and the BMFI is measured and calculated using various exercise machines based on work done by all groups of muscles. The proposed method consumes very less time and, in an embodiment, can be executed within one hour in one hour.

[00020] The present invention would be particularly useful for all humans and more useful to the patients who are suffering from life style diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, osteo arthritis of Hip, knee, back ache, and geriatrics, to sustain good health. [00021] The present invention also brings a new avenue of treating, preventing, and promoting life style diseases by systematically strengthening all groups of muscles. The present invention can also be used to promote long life by increasing the Body Mass functional Index(BMFI) and improving the BMFI in a systematic way by continuously giving proper mechanical stimulus to all groups increasing the of muscles, good BMFI put proper good stimulus to vital organs and promote good and long life.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[00022] FIG. 1 illustrates a method of determining Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[00023] Body Mass Index (BMI) is used by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the standard for recording obesity statistics since early 1980s, BMI has become a standard to assess the individuals in terming the individual as obese or non obese, BMI has significance that it assess the individuals risk for life style diseases like Type 2 Diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, osteo arthritis of Hip, knee, back ache, and other diseases. BMI has its own deficiencies BMI is a very simple indicator and it uses only the weight and the height of the person to calculate the BMI, (i.e) BMI only tells the quantity of body tissues per square meter of body.

[00024] BMI gives more importance to the fat tissues, fat is the storage organ of the body, it provides the energy in case of need and also store the excess energy when the body has consumed more than it can spend, BMI also provide some details about lean tissues of our body, Muscles and bones form the largest tissues of human body, Muscles and bones form 57% of tissues in males and 47% in females, Muscles and bones not only form the biggest chunk of the tissues but they also consume lots of energy and they are the ones instrumental in providing any or almost all body activities, Human intelligence is expressed in the form of these activities. [00025] Muscles and bones are spread across the whole body, across all joints from head to toes, Muscles and bones provide movement to the body, "Movement is life and life is movement" life is not just movement "life is to function properly". Proper functioning of each and every tissues organs requires proper stimulus to each and every organ, when each and every organ does its work properly then we can call life is full of function and of good health. For proper functioning of each and every organ requires proper stimulus to function properly and continuously.

[00026] Function means to the external world is the action, any bodily action is brought about by the combination of Musculoskeletal actions of human body, Musculoskeletal actions of human body shows the ultimate functioning of human work and intelegence to the external world, like walking, writing, doing, or computing or any complex task, thus functioning of muscles are very important to the body.

[00027] Human muscles and bones are developed over millions of years of evolution, muscles and bones are developed depending on the functional needs and capacity of function, keeping in mind the stability, agility and functionability of the body in various circumstances, Head and neck muscles are developed to use the sense organs properly to look for distant object, adjust to the occasion, scan objects, arms are designed to work, execute commands in a precise manner in any occasion for the proper outcome, the outcome is beneficial to the society and humans, back muscles provide protection to vital organs maintain the posture and holds the body in motion, lower limbs are built to carry the load of our body to various places by walking, walking is achieved by different set of muscles and bones, nearly 50% of our body tissues are reserved for walking, muscles and bones of our lower limb provide movement, stability, agility and speed to the body.

[00028] Bones and muscle are the only organs that consume variable energy depending on the work we do, vital organs consume energy and oxygen in a very fixed range, the energy consumption can rise to many times the basal levels when the muscle and bones are used to carry out difficult activity, in a way the functioning of muscles provide proper stimulus to different organs of our body like Heart, lungs, kidney liver, brain and different endocrine glands for optimum functioning, the activity of the muscle and bones make other organs to rise to the occasion and provide the logistics needed to carry out the activity, Thus muscular activity is important for the functional capacity of the body as a whole.

[00029] At present performance of the muscles are assessed by using the words strength or weakness, or the ability of the muscle to produce the force, yet at present there are no units for measurement, strength is a non specific descriptor when applied to muscles, this is the first attempt to measure the strength of the group of muscle's in a systematic way.

[00030] Muscular endurance which represents multiple muscle contractions or a sustained muscle contraction over a period of time, Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to sustain repeated contractions against a resistance for an extended period of time, in reality this muscular endurance is the one which produce physical actions, these physical action vary according to the muscular endurance of each individuals. This muscular endurance testing will definitely bring a new era from the chaotic state to highly sophisticated testing of the muscle strength of human body.

[00031] Muscular endurance testing is not only a measure of the skeletal muscles capacity but also tests cardiovascular endurance, Cardiovascular endurance is the ability of the heart, lungs and blood vessels to deliver oxygen to working muscles and tissues, as well as the ability of those muscles and tissues to utilize that oxygen. Cardiovascular endurance is also frequently called cardio-respiratory endurance, cardiovascular fitness, aerobic capacity, aerobic fitness or is sometimes more broadly termed endurance, although endurance may also refer to the ability of the muscle to do repeated work without fatigue.

[00032] Assessing the functional muscle strength means measuring the person's unique activity for the whole body be it multi joint, multi muscle group, this testing of all muscles, bone, and joints of the body is not the test for musculoskeletal system but also a test for all other organs of the body and issues like glucose metabolism, fat metabolism, and renal functions.

[00033] In FIG. 1 illustrates a method 100 for determining the Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI) in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

[00034] The method 100 comprises of the following steps mentioned through steps 102-106.

[00035] In step 102, total work capacity of an individual can be assessed by functional characteristics of one or more groups of body muscles of the individual by using a plurality of exercise equipments and/or by one or more physical activities. A total work capacity measuring device can be used for measure the total work capacity, wherein the total work capacity measuring device can aggregate measurements from all body muscles and store/process the same.

[00036] In step 104, body mass index of the individual can be determined by measuring weight and height of the individual. A body mass index device can be used for determining the weight and height of the individual.

[00037] In step 106, the total work capacity and the body mass index (BMI) can be combined to compute BMFI by dividing the total work capacity of the individual per hour by the body mass index of said individual.

[00038] In one embodiment, the BMFI value can be calculated with the help of any of computing device. In another embodiment, sequence of steps 102 and 104 can be interchanged and BMI can be computed before computing the total work capacity. In yet another embodiment, the BMFI can be computed by executing, on one or more computer processors, one or more computer program modules that can coordinate with the body mass index device and the total work capacity measuring device to determine the BMFI value.

[00039] In another embodiment, individual's exercising capability, measured through total work capacity, as described in step 102, can be calculated with the help of one or more of the following exercises and equipments: [00040] Muscles of the front of the chest are assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the chest press machine.

[00041] Muscles of the shoulder of the chest are assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the butterfly machine.

[00042] Muscles of the front and back and the lateral muscles assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the arm press machine.

[00043] Muscles of the front of the arm are assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the elbow press machine.

[00044] Muscles of the triceps of both arms are assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the dumbbells.

[00045] Muscles of the flexors and extensors of wrist are assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the dumbbells.

[00046] Muscles of the pronator and supinators of wrist are assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the dumbbells.

[00047] Muscles of the abductor and adductor of the wrists of both arms are assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the dumbbells.

[00048] Circumduction movement of the shoulder and Muscles of circumduction both upper limbs are assessed for their work by using dumbbells.

[00049] Flexors Muscles of the back are assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the dumbbells by bending forward and backwards in standing.

[00050] Extensors Muscles of the back are assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the dumbbells by bending forward and backward in standing.

[00051] Left Lateral Flexors Muscles of the back are assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the dumbbells by bending left in standing.

[00052] Right Lateral Flexors Muscles of the back are assessed for their work by lifting the weight by using the dumbbells by bending right in standing. [00053] Muscles of the quadriceps of the thigh of both limbs are assessed for their work by using perfect lower limb exercise machine.

[00054] Hamstrings Muscles of the thigh of both limbs are assessed for their work by using perfect lower limb exercise machine.

[00055] Muscles of the plantar flexors of ankle of both limbs are assessed for their work by using perfect lower limb exercise machine.

[00056] Muscles of the Dorsi flexors of ankle of both lower limbs are assessed for their work by using perfect lower limb exercise machine.

[00057] Internal rotators Muscles of both lower limbs of both limbs are assessed for their work by using perfect lower limb exercise machine.

[00058] External rotators Muscles of both lower limbs are assessed for their work by using perfect lower limb exercise machine.

[00059] Abductors of Hip Muscles of both lower limbs are assessed for their work by using perfect lower limb exercise machine in standing.

[00060] Abductors of Hip Muscles of both lower limbs are assessed for their work by using perfect lower limb exercise machine in sitting.

[00061] Adductor Muscles and extensor muscles of the Hip of both lower limbs are assessed for their work by using perfect lower limb exercise machine.

[00062] Further, work done by each group of muscle is calculated by the formula

Work = weight displaced in kilograms * distance the weight travelled

[00063] In physics, generally mechanical work is defined as the amount of energy transferred by force acting through a distance in the direction of the force. If a force F that is constant with respect to time acts on an object while the object is displaced in a straight line along the length and direction of a vector d, the mechanical work done by the force on the object is the product of the vectors F and d: W = F · d = Fd COsB.

W = F - d = d cosA

[00064] Human body has different group of muscles with different activity producing variety of motions and range of motions. Each group of muscles produce a set of contraction and each contraction results in an action or mechanical work. It is this mechanical work of each group of muscles that needs to be quantified, which is achieved by using different exercise equipments available in the market. Works of different groups of muscles can be assessed by using the above mentioned set of exercises using the specific equipments.

[00065] In an embodiment, a person can be asked to undergo a series of exercises as defined above, using the exercise equipments available in the market, wherein the person can be allowed to do exercise for say 3 minutes per set of exercise, each set of exercise uses a unique group of muscle producing an unique movement. The weights in the exercise equipments can be adjusted to the capacity of the individual in that group of muscles such that the person is allowed to do number of repetitions depending on the endurance of that group of muscles.

[00066] To ascertain the amount of work done by each group of muscles, individuals can be asked to do exercise using the available fitness exercise equipments in the market. The weight and height of each exercise machine used by the person is noted. The number of repetitions done by the individual is also noted.

[00067] Total amount of work done by each group of muscles as mentioned in step 102 can be derived by the formula W = F * D and multiplied by the number of repetitions. The total work of all groups of muscles is computed by adding the work of individual exercises.

[00068] In step 104, the body mass index of the individual can be calculated using the formula:

BMI = weight (in kilograms)/ height square,

[00069] BMI gives more importance to the fat tissues, fat is the storage organ of the body, it provides the energy in case of need and also store the excess energy when the body has consumed more than it can spend, BMI also provide some details about lean tissues of our body, Muscles and bones form the largest tissues of human body, Muscles and bones form 57% of tissues in males and 47% in females, Muscles and bones not only form the biggest chunk of the tissues but they also consume lots of energy and they are the ones instrumental in providing any or almost all body activities, Human intelligence is expressed in the form of these activities.

[00070] Total work is derived by adding the total work done by each group of muscles as step 104 in one hour. Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI) is calculated as mentioned in step 106 using the formula

BMFI= Total work done by an individual in one hour/ BMI;

[00071] Thus, the Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI) derived is an indicator of the total work capacity of the body per square meter of weight of body tissues. The weights for each exercises are adjusted depending on the capacity of each group of muscles and to each person, the total number of repetitions depends on the strength of each group of muscles in the person, the time allotted for each exercise is 3 minutes, the person can stop the exercise as soon as feels tired and it cannot be done further, or signs of exhaustion due to muscular strength, lung function or cardiac function. The maximum time allotted for full set of exercises in one hour, if any person could not complete the test in one hour also reported as the total work done per hour or BMFI per hour per square meter.

[00072] The significance of the present invention is tremendous, it paves the way of diagnosing the life style diseases by the person's Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI). An indication of low Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI) accurately predicts the chances of getting life style diseases in near future. By using the Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI) the person can treat the life style diseases by prescribing the muscle building exercises. In geriatrics, old aged patients have always lost bulk of their muscle mass before their death, so by suggesting the geriatrics some of the muscle building exercises death can be postponed. [00073] The BMFI calculated using the below formula

BMFI = Total work done in one hour/hour/square meter of body weight

[00074] The BMFI not only considers the physical aspects of musculoskeletal (i.e. quantity) but also considers functional aspects of musculoskeletal (i.e. quality) tissues, BMFI also predicts the activity of all other organs of the body like Heart, Lungs, Kidney, Liver, Brain. So that overall health status of each individual is predicated accurately.

ADVANTAGES OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[00015] The present invention is used to provide an accurate status of health condition by assessing both quality and quantity aspect of all groups of muscles of the human body

[00016] The present invention is used to provide an accurate status of health condition of the individual by combining BMI data and exercising capability data without using any drug test

[00017] The present invention is used to provide an accurate status of health condition by calculating BMFI which utilizes both physical and functional aspect of all groups of muscles of the human body along with functioning of all vital organs of the Human body irrespective of body frame size

[00018] The present invention is used to provide an accurate status of health condition by assessing strength of different body muscles of the individual along with BMI data.

[00019] The present invention is to prevent one or more life style disease by determining individual Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI) of individual and strengthening particular groups of muscles or all muscles. [00020] The present invention is used to prevent one or more life style disease by determining individual Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI) of individual and strengthening particular groups of muscles or all muscles.

[00021] The present invention is used to provide an accurate status of health condition without involving any drug therapy.

[00022] The present invention is used to provide an accurate status of health condition without involving any time and cost consuming method such as blood test, Cardiac diagnostic test.

Claims

CLAIMS We claim:

1. A computer-implemented method for determining Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI) of an individual, said method comprising the steps of:

using a total work capacity measuring device for determining total work capacity of an individual by assessing functional characteristics of one or more groups of body muscles of said individual by using a plurality of exercise equipments and/or by one or more physical activities;

using a Body Mass Index measuring device for determining body mass index of said individual by measuring weight and height of the individual; and executing, on one or more computer processors, one or more computer program modules to determine the BMFI based on the total work capacity of said individual per hour and the body mass index of said individual.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the BMFI is computed by dividing the total work capacity of said individual per hour by the body mass index of said individual.

3. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein said total work capacity is computed based on weight displaced by said individual, distance the weight travelled, and number of repetitions done.

4. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein said body muscles are selected from a group comprising of muscles of the front of the chest, muscles of the shoulder of the chest, muscles of the front of the arm, muscles of the triceps of both arms, muscles of the flexors and extensors of wrist, muscles of the pronator and supinators of wrist, muscles of the abductor and adductor of the wrists of both arms, muscles of circumductors of both upper limbs, extensors muscles of the back, flexors muscles of the back, right lateral flexors muscles of the back, left lateral flexors muscles of the back, muscles of the quadriceps of the thigh of both limbs, muscles of the Biceps femoris of the thigh of both limbs, muscles of the plantar flexors of ankle, muscles of the Dorsi flexors of ankle of both lower limbs, muscles of both lower limbs of both limbs, internal rotators and external rotators muscles of both lower limbs, abductors of hip muscles of both lower limbs, adductor muscles and extensor muscles of the hip of both lower limbs.

5. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein exercise equipments means are selected from a group comprising of chest press machine, butterfly machine, arm press machine, elbow press machine, dumbbells and Perfect lower limb exercise device.

6. A method for preventing and treating one or more life style diseases by determining Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI) of an individual, said method comprising the steps of:

determining total work capacity of an individual by assessing functional characteristics of one or more groups of body muscles of said individual by using a plurality of exercise equipments and/or by one or more physical activities;

determining body mass index of said individual by measuring weight and height of the individual; and

determining the BMFI by dividing the total work capacity of said individual per hour by the body mass index of said individual.

7. A system for determining Body Mass Functional Index (BMFI) of an individual, the system comprising of:

a plurality of exercise equipments and/or physical activities configured to determine total work capacity of said individual by assessing functional characteristics of one or more groups of body muscles of said individual; a BMI measuring device configured to determine body mass index of said individual;

a means for determining said BMFI by dividing the total work capacity of said individual per hour by the body mass index of said individual.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said BMFI is determined through a computing device and/or computed manually.