WO2015185792A1

WO2015185792A1 - Exercise device for blood circulation and metabolism in the knee

Info

Publication number: WO2015185792A1
Application number: PCT/FI2015/000027
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hannu Ojantausta
Original assignee: Hannu Ojantausta
Priority date: 2014-06-06
Filing date: 2015-06-02
Publication date: 2015-12-10
Also published as: EP3151932A4; EP3151932A1

Abstract

The invention comprises an exercise device increasing blood circulation and metabolism in the knee, in which the exercise is done in a sitting position with a pumping motion against a special suspension (8,12,16,14) base.

Description

EXERCISE DEVICE FOR BLOOD CIRCULATION AND METABOLISM IN THE KNEE The invention comprises an exercise device for blood circulation and metabolism in the knee, sitting on which a leg pressed against a base is moved back and forth.

When man developed to the stage where he was standing on two legs, the support structure of his body became exposed to quite different kinds of stress factors. As the load was earlier divided on four extremities, now the entire body weight had to be supported by two legs. The surface of the leg joints now touched each other quite differently, and the body tried the best it could to adjust to the developments therein. Today, this still remains among the biggest challenges in man's natural development. As it is, even today the aforementioned large leg joints, this is, the knee and hip joints and also the back, are among the most vulnerable organs in the body. In other words, the moving connection points of the joint surfaces in man's support structure are continuously subjected to wear and tear, and for them to work properly, they require regular care.

Nowadays regrettably often, regular care measures include going to the doctor's appointment. Developments in orthopaedics, the branch of medicine for this, has taken huge steps as has also physical therapy, a softer form of treatment that does both preventive and healing work applying various physical means.

Today, surgical orthopaedists perform both knee and hip joint transplant surgery as a routine medical measure. The increased engagement in the most strenuous sport forms has also exposed the joints that were already susceptible to injuries and made them even more vulnerable. Hence, as a result of a knee or hip injury, regrettably often the career of a professional sportsman or woman comes far too yearly to a halt.

For a case not resulting in an artificial joint surgery which in a way is irreversible, more than earlier, preventive measures are invested in, and physical therapy professionals play an important role therein. Presently, their position in both the public and private health sectors is as established as that of physicians and nurses. Not so much time has elapsed from the time when the barbell was considered to be the only blessed exercise device, and it was used to cure almost everything. To build muscles or to handle pain in a shoulder or knee, one had to lift barbells. We now know more, and the fact is that, for example, rest, stretching, massage, and other so-called soft exercising help at least as much in maintaining health as barbells. Orthopaedics and physical therapy continuously develop and new exercise trends emerge almost on a daily basis. It can be said that almost all forms of exercise seem to be good for a healthy knee, but a hurting hip or knee already starts to be a demanding patient, and the challenges therein vary from preventive physical therapy to treatment therapy.

The knee is a complex structure with three bones movably attached to each other with the cruciate and collateral ligaments. The structure is supported by the patella in the front, by the meniscuses on the sides, and by the muscles attached to the bones. The cartilage layer covering the inner bone surfaces acts as a slide bearing enabling the knee joint surfaces to move without any hindrance against each other. In order for such a vulnerable mechanism as a knee to function optimally, its inner maintenance has to also function flawlessly, in other words, blood circulation and metabolism must not be obstructed.

When a knee hurts, moving it is difficult and forceful as the hurting knee tries to prevent every way it can the movements that hurt it. As a counter reaction at this stage, the muscles become tense and the knee feels like cramping, preventing all the natural functions of a healthy joint. The stress hurts the condition of a knee even more.

Granted, a sick and hurting knee may heal just through rest, but often more is require than just passive care for it to heal. Consequently, to restart the metabolism's own healing powers, an exercise that is as natural as possible and does not put unnecessary tension on the muscles must be found for the knee. Namely, it is a known fact that the tension in a hurting knee causes inflammations that increase the accumulation of waste materials that close a bad circle by obstructing blood circulation from flowing freely.

There is no equipment to be found in the market that is especially designed to improve the functioning of blood circulation and metabolism in the knee. A few samples of exercise equipment designed for knee rehabilitation are presented later on herein.

For the metabolism's own healing powers to start, an evenly pumping exercise that frees blood circulation in the knee should be found.

As an organ, a knee is created for moving, this is to say, for walking and running. Walking is the most ideal form of exercise for a healthy knee as the load on the knee is man's own weight that is directly directed down, thereby, so to say, not opening the knee and exposing it to erosive and bending stress.

But when a knee hurts, even walking may be too much for it. A solution for this is an exercise simulating walking performed in a sitting position. This removes the weight of the body, and the person exercising is able to adjust the resistance by pressing his or her leg against the base with the desired strength. Swinging the knee back and forth in the air in a sitting position has no effect as it entirely lacks the pumping movement that frees liquids in the knee. The move requires a sturdy base allowing pressure against the push. But, as mere pressure resistance without a move does not generate a pumping effect, a move maintaining pressure resistance through the entire duration of the move emulating walking has to be generated. The move has to be entirely protected from a side movement as, during a walking motion, no other load is directed at the knee than that required for creating a back-and-forth movement.

It can be said that, during walking, the knee is in a balanced state and also functionally fully optimal. It is said that the knee is safely contracting without any load directed at it that opens or pulls it. In this state, the knee joint is ready to maximally exploit the impact of the pumping motion.

In order for the lower extremity muscles attached to the knee to be in a relaxed and natural state during the pumping motion, the angle between the ankle and the leg has to be maintained in an approximate 90-degree angle during the entire exercise. This means that when the exercise is started in a sitting position, the leg's entire foot sole in the leg to be exercised rests firmly on the base and, hence, the knee joint is in an approximate 90-degree angle. From this position, as a result of the downward push, the leg pushes forward and the weight that was on the entire foot sole at the beginning of the exercise transfers to the heel during the motion, because when the knee joint straightens, the angle between the ankle and the leg stays unchanged. For the exercise movement to be correct, it is required that a leg support or a foot pedal be attached with a hinge on the heel side of the cradle designed for the leg which leg support or foot pedal holds the leg in a controlled grip and allows the leg to move vertically with the pedal motion within the framework allowed by the hinge fastening. In the forward motion, the leg should not be entirely straightened because this activates the muscles to generate counter movements, which creates tension. The exercise movement is stopped with the knee in a natural, slightly flexed position and, from there, with the knee in a 90-degree position or in a somewhat wider angle, a push backwards under pressure to the starting position is started.

The following is a review of whether there already exist knee exercise devices meeting the aforementioned requirements.

The US Patent No. US4229001 presents a solution where, in a vertical position, the leg rests in a support extending to the hollow of the knee, and, with its help, different-size resistances may be set using rubber bands or springs fastened between the support and its base. The movement generating resistance is not directed down but forward and backward as the patient is in a vertical position. The device tries to mobilise the knee's motive track by exposing the knee to differently resisting pushing and flexing movements. The movements do not succeed in freeing blood circulation and metabolism as they lack the freeing pumping effect and, as a result of the exercise, the muscles may became even more tense, with an adverse effect on blood circulation and metabolism.

The US Patent No. 4653749 presents another solution that emulates the skiing motion. The exercise is done standing up, which position itself is not good for a sick and hurting knee. As the movement emulates the skiing motion, the foot pedal hinged on the heel that keeps the angle between the ankle and the leg unchanged during the exercise totally lacks. In other words, with this solution, it is impossible to perform the exercise movement according to the Finnish invention. In this US solution, the leg is either entirely unattached or fastened with a traditional ski binding, in which case the heel is either detached or the leg is totally fastened; consequently, the exercise movement in which the heel is hinged, allowing the leg's front part to be moved, is impossible.

There exists also other similar solution, but no device was found that would help blood circulation and metabolism in the knee in a way this Finnish invention does. Therefore, the invention presented here wants to eliminate this problem by presenting the solution's exercise device for blood circulation and metabolism in the knee, consisting of a cradle equipped with rotating elements and a foot pedal moving on a track or base characterised in that the cradle frame is preferably suspended and equipped with at least two wheels equipped with especially soft elastomer and with flexible or rotating side supports leaning on the track wall, and the track or the base is equipped with a multilevel flexible base.

The numerous different flexible points in the said exercise device allow the knee an ideal exercise movement with soft resistance. The exercise device secures a fully manageable, controlled pumping motion on an especially soft base that can be compared to a flexible moss base in nature. The secret in the stepless, so-called baseless suspension is in the four-point suspension in which the flexible cradle, the wheels equipped with special polymer, and the base equipped with flexible additional bases operate simultaneously.

The exercise is performed in a sitting position with the leg to be exercised fastened onto the cradle's foot pedal with the fastening straps in the front part of the pedal. In addition to the straps, the pedal's back edges that are somewhat elevated for the heel hold the leg firmly in a straight position in the cradle. With the knee joints in ca. a 90-degree starting position, the actual exercise movement starts by pushing the leg down with the entire foot whereupon, due to the suspension, the cradle goes simultaneously down, starting to move forward During the exercise movement, as the front part of the leg rises in the cradle with the foot pedal to an upright position by 45 degrees, the angle between the ankle and the foot stays unchanged, enabling the hinged fastening of the back edge of the foot pedal onto the cradle, and this allows the front part of the foot to move vertically with respect to the cradle frame. The forward movement that does not use more pressure that the leg's own weight is stopped before the leg straightens, and the return movement all the way to the starting position starts by using moderate muscle power to keep the leg pushed down. The four-point suspension absorbs the movement steplessly with respect to the use of power, and it does not make the movement to bump when it goes all the way down to the base, and this is important for a hurting knee.

The cradle part may be made of any sturdy material that allows easy fastening of the elements supporting it and rotating under it. There are at least two rotating elements fastened under the cradle, and the regular wheels are best suited for the purpose. The material around the wheel hubs must be completely impermeable, flexible special polymer alloy, preferably elastomer, that renders hearty resistance under pressure and has the ability to revert to the earlier stage rapidly and completely.

One of the best suspension solutions for the cradle is to fasten the cradle wheels onto the cradle via supporting arms, and elements made of a flexible material, preferable elastomer, are placed between the supporting arms and the cradle base, providing them flexible resistance when the supporting arms move.

The frame of the cradle's foot pedal must also be made of sturdy material so that it is possible to hinge it onto the cradle and for the leg to be firmly supported in the pedal during the exercise. In the front part of the pedal, there are straps, preferably attached with Velcro, to hold the leg's front part in place, and there is an elevated back edge in the pedal for the leg heel.

For securing its stable motion back and forth, the cradle must have its own base. For the cradle to move in a stable manner in a straight position, the form of the base shall preferably be a U-shaped straight track whose walls hold the cradle in the right direction. In order for the cradle's motion to be as stable and straight as possible, the space between the base walls and the cradle must be as small as possible, or nonexistent. As the space is small, the solution is to equip the outer side of the cradle with rotating elements that, due to the rotational motion, do not prevent the cradle's horizontal back-and-forth motion. In order for them not to obstruct the cradle's vertical motion, the wheels would have to be made of a material that would be as friction-free as possible, such as slippery hard plastic.

If the outer side of the cradle is equipped with suspended friction-free or rotating inserting elements, the need for a space between the base walls and the cradle is eliminated. The friction between the inserting elements and the cradle is so scant that it does not obstruct the cradle motion.

All the materials, such as plastic, metal, and wood, rendering sturdiness for the cradle are suitable for use. In order for the cradle to have enough space to move, the profile of the base should be a U form, circa 0.5 - 1 m long, and about the width of a longish shoe. It would be good if the base were to have end walls as they increase the sturdiness of the base. The height of the base, circa 20 -30 cm, may vary to adjust to the cradle height. Inside the base on top of its actual inner base, 2 to 4 circa 1-3 cm thick and circa 2 - 5 cm wide batten-like strips made of the special polymer material, i.e., elastomer, the same material used to make the wheels, are placed at regular intervals crosswise to correspond to the width of the base.

Those strips form the bottom level of the exercise device's flexible base. An additional base, circa 1 cm thick, covering the entire inner base and made of hard material, is placed on top of the strips, and another additional base the size of the additional base and made of the same special material as the wheels and the strips is placed on top of it. Now, the bottom of the base on which the cradle's wheel rotates is ready.

The material suitable for the surface of the wheels and for the base is not any soft material; instead, its must be of high-quality polymer alloy, and, in this case, it is especially flexible elastomer.

The following is the presentation of the invention, with references to the appended drawings where

Figure 1 shows a cross-sectional side view of the track with a side view of the exercise cradle on it.

Figure 2 shows a cross-sectional back view of the tract in which the cradle is seen from the back. Figure 3 shows a top view of the cradle on its track.

Figure 1 presents a cross-section of the track (1) and its multi-levelled (13, 14, 15, 16) base, in which the actual base (13) is seen as the lowest level. Next is shown the transversal flexible pieces (14) made of elastomer, on top of which lays an additional base (15) made of hard material and coated with a flexible elastomer layer (16), and there are the wheels (2) made of flexible elastomer (12) rotating on top of it. The cradle (4) on the track (1) with its flexing mechanism (8) and supporting arms (17), onto which the wheels (2) are fastened, is also seen. The horizontally rotating wheels (9) supported against the wall (11) are seen on the side of the cradle.

A foot pedal (3), with the straps (6) and heel edges (7) holding the leg in place, is fastened with a hinge (5) onto the back edge of the cradle (4).

Figure 2 shows a cross section of the track (1) and of the cradle (4) with the wheels (2), supporting arms (17), flexing mechanism (8), foot pedal (3), and horizontally rotating support wheels (9) on the sides of the cradle (4). There is also a back perspective of the multilevel (13, 14, 15, 16) base.

Figure 3 shows a top view of the four-wheel (2A) cradle (4), in which the wheels' (2A) suspended (18) hubs (10) support the cradle (4) against the track (1) wall (11) and stabilise the movement of the cradle (4) on the track (1).

The description and the related drawings are only intended for illustrating the concept according to the invention. The details of the exercise device according to the invention may vary within the framework of the claims.

Claims

1. An exercise device for blood circulation and metabolism in the knee, consisting of a cradle (4) moving on wheels (2, 2A) on a track (1) or base (1) equipped with a foot pedal (3) C H A R A C T E R I S E D I N that the exercise device has a foot pedal (3), made of study material and equipped with front straps (6) and heel edge (7) holding the foot in place, fastened onto the cradle (4) frame's (4) back edge on the top level with a hinge fastening (5) allowing vertical motion and its frame (4) is preferably suspended (8)and its sides are equipped with guiding friction-free projections (9, 10) supported by the track wall (11), and at least two wheels (2, 2A) that are equipped with especially soft elastomer (12) or a material with similar qualities are fastened under the cradle (4), and the track (1) or the base is equipped with a multi-levelled flexible base (13, 14, 15, 16).

2. An exercise device according to claim ^ C H A R A C T E R I S E D I N that the track (1) or base is longitudinal, an ample 1.5 x shoe length wide, circa 20 - 35 cm high, and circa 50 - 100 cm long, and its walls are circa 1 - 3 cm thick, it is box-like, with a U-shaped profile, and, in addition to its own base (13), it is equipped with a hard additional base (15) and, between it (15) and the actual base (13), flexible, circa 3 - 4 cm wide and high elastomer strips or pieces (14) corresponding to the width of the base (13) are attached onto both base ends that correspond to the width of the base (13) and onto at least two points in the middle width-wise with respect to the base (13), and the upper surface of the additional base (15) is totally covered with an approximate 3 - 4 cm layer (16) of the same flexible material, and the wheels (2, 2 A) made of flexible elastomer (12) rotate on its surface.

3. An exercise device according to claims 1 and 2, C H A R A C T E R I S E D I N that, there are wheels (2) made of elastomer (12) fastened via supporting arms (17) under the cradle frame's front and back part in the middle and, thanks to the flexible elastomer pieces (8) attached between its base and supporting arms (17), those supporting arms flex with respect to the cradle frame (4), and horizontally rotating wheels (9) made of friction-free, hard material are fastened onto the two extensions (19) on both sides of the cradle frame (4) as guiding projections to be supported by the track's inner wall (11), thereby stabilising the cradle's (4) motion on the track (1).

4. An exercise device according to claims land 2, CHARACTERISED IN that the cradle (4) is equipped with four wheels (2 A) made of elastomer (12) fastened onto the cradle base via flexible (8) supporting arms (17), and the wheels' insertable, suspended (18) hubs (10) support to the cradle (4) against the track (1) wall (11) and stabilise its motion on the track (1).