U.S. patent application number 12/739148 was filed with the patent office on 2011-01-13 for gymnic and rehabilitative machine.
Invention is credited to Marco Benocci, Sergio Benocci, Giovanni Betti, Roberto Piga.
Application Number | 20110009246 12/739148 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40313611 |
Filed Date | 2011-01-13 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110009246 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Betti; Giovanni ; et
al. |
January 13, 2011 |
GYMNIC AND REHABILITATIVE MACHINE
Abstract
A gymnic and rehabilitative machine, comprising means (2) for
allowing the user to apply forces and a load (3) mobile along a
guide-way under the action exerted by the user by means of said
means (2) for applying a force; the path followed by the load is
curvilinear, offering various non-rectilinear trajectories during
motion, with a variable geometry in the plane and in the space.
Inventors: |
Betti; Giovanni; (Firenze,
IT) ; Piga; Roberto; (Chiocchio Greve in Chianti,
IT) ; Benocci; Marco; (Badasse-Monteriggioni, IT)
; Benocci; Sergio; (Firenze, IT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DR. MARK M. FRIEDMAN;C/O BILL POLKINGHORN - DISCOVERY DISPATCH
9003 FLORIN WAY
UPPER MARLBORO
MD
20772
US
|
Family ID: |
40313611 |
Appl. No.: |
12/739148 |
Filed: |
October 22, 2008 |
PCT Filed: |
October 22, 2008 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/IB2008/002832 |
371 Date: |
September 7, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
482/92 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 2208/0223 20130101;
A63B 21/0628 20151001; A63B 21/4003 20151001; A63B 21/0724
20130101; A63B 23/0405 20130101; A63B 21/0626 20151001; A63B 21/169
20151001; A63B 2023/0411 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
482/92 |
International
Class: |
A63B 21/00 20060101
A63B021/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Oct 23, 2007 |
IT |
BO2007A000709 |
Claims
1-11. (canceled)
12. A gymnic and rehabilitative machine comprising means for
allowing the user to apply forces, a load mobile along a guide-way
under the action exerted by the user by means of said means for
applying a force, wherein the load follows a curvilinear path in a
closed kinetic chain, that is to say its trajectory distances
itself from a rectilinear reference axis.
13. The machine of claim 12, wherein said reference axis is a
vertical axis.
14. The machine of claim 12, wherein said guide-way is defined by a
curvilinear guide.
15. The machine of claim 13, wherein said guide-way is defined by a
curvilinear guide.
16. The machine of claim 12, wherein the machine comprises a fixing
structure to a wall or to a vertical support, being said guide so
shaped that its upper portion is farther from the wall and its
lower portion is nearer the wall.
17. The machine of claim 12, wherein the zone destined for the
positioning of the user's feet onto the ground is disposed on the
vertical of the arrival point of said trajectory.
18. The machine of claim 12, wherein said load consists of a
carriage which slides along a guide and has a predetermined
mass.
19. The machine of claim 12, wherein said load consists of a
carriage which slides along a guide and has a predetermined mass,
said carriage being provided with supports for housing one or more
discs which define said mass.
20. The machine of claim 12, wherein said load consists of a
carriage to which a handle for the user's hands is fixed, being a
headrest arranged at the centre of said handle and destined for the
zone of the user's nape.
21. The machine of claim 12, wherein said guide-way is defined by a
curvilinear guide, said guide having a curved or inclined portion
whose bend or inclination is predetermined according to the
purposes to be achieved by executing a given exercise.
22. The machine of claim 12, wherein the machine is provided with a
footboard which can be bent for the user.
23. The machine of claim 12, wherein the guide-way followed by said
load is curvilinear, said load consisting of a carriage sliding
along a curvilinear guide which offers various non-rectilinear
trajectories during motion, with a variable geometry in the plane
and in the space.
Description
[0001] The present invention relates to a gymnic and rehabilitation
machine.
[0002] In particular, the invention relates to a gymnic machine
which allows the user to apply a force by means of suitable means
which can interact with a load.
[0003] A possible well-known exercise called "squat" foresees that
the athlete (and/or the person under rehabilitation treatment)
keeps a load resting on his/her shoulders so that he/she can carry
out a series of leg bends and that he/she usually bends his/her
knees while he/she is bending his/her lower limbs. It is possible
to execute this exercise both with free load tools, for example
with a balancer, or with gymnic machines intended for this purpose.
This type of exercise is effective for many athletes but it
determines excessive friction onto the articular districts; this
inconvenience manifests itself especially on subjects who are in
the functional rehabilitation phase.
[0004] In fact, the exercise described above determines the
synergic motion between the tibial segment and the femoral segment
and produces cutting forces which can compromise the effectiveness
of this exercise and can prove harmful. In other words, with this
exercise, the load is moved along a rectilinear and vertical
guide-way that coincides with the vertical reference axis of the
person who is carrying out the exercise so as to determine a
simultaneous roto-translation both from the hinge point defined by
the knee and from the tibial and femoral portion of the limb which
align along the vertical axis. In practice, in the existing
machines, it is not possible to adequately separate the translation
and rotation components of the knees, for example during the
execution of exercises which foresee the lifting, the lowering or
the moving of a load in a linear manner.
[0005] The aim of the present invention is that of providing a
machine capable of overcoming the above inconveniences. Thanks to
the solution represented by the present invention, the load (which,
initially, is off-axis) is brought onto the reference axis where
the subject can easily support it. This gesture strongly limits
friction on the knee articulation and on the ankle
articulation.
[0006] According to the invention, these results have been achieved
by adopting the idea of a machine having the features described in
claim 1. Further features are described in the dependent
claims.
[0007] Some of the advantages of the present invention are listed
and described below:
[0008] With reference to the embodiment dedicated to the lower
limbs (see FIGS. 1-4), the machine allows the correct training of
muscles, in particular the so called "antigravitary type" of the
lower limbs without causing excessive friction on the articulations
and, above all, it limits the instantaneous variations of the
cutting forces.
[0009] This possibility is provided both by the fact that the leg
muscles operate in an isometric way and by the double closing of
the kinetic chain built up by the whole body which, during its
motion, is constrained to lie on the ground and it is also provided
by the sliding guide for the overload which, in the example that
has been shown, has a curvilinear shape that takes into account the
physiological curve of the backbone so as to limit functional
overload on human vertebral bodies. The tibial segment remains
substantially motionless, in a position which is basically
orthogonal to the ground and the angle at the ankle remains fixed
without causing the heel to lift.
[0010] The particular shape of the sliding guide allows for support
of the overload off the vertical axis so that the overload can
subsequently be transported onto the axis itself and so that a pure
rotation without sliding occurs on the articulation (absence of
cutting forces). In other words, the lifting does not occur in the
same way as it does in well-known machines which foresee the
lifting of the load by keeping the load itself on the vertical axis
and by realigning the body segments "under" it.
[0011] The machine allows the user to train the mobility of the
articulations involved in this effort in order to achieve
beneficial effects for blood circulation by simulating some aspects
of deambulation which foresees that the baricentre cyclically
passes "over" the support point of the foot. The line perpendicular
to the ground at the support point of the foot represents the axis
with respect to which force couples annihilate each other and the
machine subject of the present invention allows the transport of
the load "over" the axis and not (as foreseen during the walk on
the tapis roulant) to move the support point of the foot "under"
the load with the consequent maintenance of the articulation
balance.
[0012] A further advantage offered by the present machine is the
possibility of carrying out eccentric work without loading on the
articulations. In practice, using the machine of the invention, it
is possible not only executing the concentric work during the
lifting of the load but also eccentric work determined by the
corresponding lowering of the load itself obtained with a knee
bend. In well-known machines, this solution is not possible because
the load is moved along the vertical reference axis so an exercise
which foresees a lowering with a knee bend using a load would be
dangerous for articulations. Conventional machines which allow the
operator to carry out "eccentric" work using an overload, generally
permit the execution of an open kinetic chain exercise; in this
case, on the contrary, it is possible to execute exercises with
overloads even in a closed kinetic chain.
[0013] The above information about the execution of exercises for
lower limbs is also valid for upper limbs-machines even if their
sizes and positions are different. In practice, a correct handling
among the segments of the lower limbs is obtained between the two
portions of the upper limbs by using a curvilinear development
guide which allows the operator to exert a force causing a variable
motion with respect to the reference axis independently of its
orientation.
[0014] Every technician who works in this field will better
understand these advantages and further advantages and features of
the present invention thanks to the following description and to
the enclosed drawings as a practical exemplification of the present
invention which should not be seen in a limitative sense,
wherein:
[0015] FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a possible
embodiment of a machine according to the invention;
[0016] FIGS. 2, 3, 4 show the example of FIG. 1 in a front, lateral
and top plan view respectively;
[0017] FIGS. 5, 6 are two diagrams representing two phases of a
squat exercise that has been carried out with a well-known
machine;
[0018] FIGS. 7, 8 show two diagrams which are analogous to those of
FIGS. 5 and 6 but they represent an exercise that has been carried
out with a machine built according to the invention;
[0019] FIG. 9 is a schematic lateral view of a possible embodiment
of a detail relative to a footboard.
[0020] With reference to the enclosed drawings, a machine (1)
according to the present invention comprises means (2) for allowing
the user to apply a force and a load (3) mobile along a path under
the action executed by the user by said means (2) for applying the
force.
[0021] According to the invention, the machine is characterized in
that the guide-way followed by the load (3) is curvilinear and it
foresees a trajectory which diverges from a rectilinear reference
axis.
[0022] With reference to the illustrated example, the load (3)
follows a non-rectilinear trajectory with an off axis starting
point and only the final point is dislocated on the vertical axis
which is aligned with the force of gravity. In other embodiments of
the machine, said reference axis can be directed in a different
way. In the illustrated example, the guide-way is defined by a
curvilinear guide (4). The machine comprises a structure (5) for
fixing it to a wall or to another vertical support (P) and the
guide (4) is so shaped that its upper portion (40) is farther from
the wall and its lower portion (41) is nearer the wall (P). A
respective upper (62) and lower(61) bumper stops are foreseen in
order to delimit the run of the load (3) along the guide(4).
[0023] The zone destined for the positioning onto the ground of the
user's feet coincides with the lower end or base (42) of the guide
(4), the user can put his/her feet onto the vertical projection of
the handle (2) which is described below when it is in its upmost
position.
[0024] In particular, the guide (4) features a curved or inclined
portion (40) whose bend or inclination is determined according to
the purposes to be achieved through the squat exercise. It is
possible to foresee connection elements or shims (55) to vary the
height of the guide (4) according to the user.
[0025] In practice, unlike traditional machines in which the load
is guided along a rectilinear and vertical guide-way, according to
the present invention, the trajectory followed by the load is not
along a rectilinear axis; on the contrary, by using different guide
shapes, it is possible to obtain bidimensional or tridimensional
guide- ways (in the plane and in the space). With reference to the
drawings, the load (3), during its motion along the guide, moves
with a varied motion (non rectilinear) both vertically (y-axis) and
horizontally in the direction of its distancing or of its
approaching to the wall (P) (x-axis).
[0026] As shown in the drawings, the load can consist of a carriage
(2) having a predetermined mass which slides along the guide (2).
In particular, the carriage (3) is provided with supports (30) for
housing one or more discs (31) which define the mass of the
carriage. Moreover, a handle (2) for the user's hands is fixed to
the carriage (3), being a headrest (20) foreseen at the centre of
said handle which is destined for the zone of the user's nape.
[0027] Besides, the machine can be provided with a footboard (7)
for the user's feet which is equipped with fixing means in the
desired angulation so as to allow a stable positioning according to
different angulations; the footboard is schematically represented
in FIG. 9 and can bend onto the sagittal axis can vary the
horizontal support plane of the foot.
[0028] FIGS. 5-8 schematically show that the machine of the present
invention is different from a well-known machine. A well known
machine (1') foresees a castle provided with two vertical guides
(4') along which the user makes the load slide (3). The load
follows a vertical trajectory which coincides with the reference
axis. In a well-known machine, the knee (93) is submitted to a
roto-translation in the zone where the load is moved and this may
cause damaging effects. In fact, it is easy to guess that two
simultaneous rotations of the tibial segment (92) with respect to
the foot (91) and of the femoral segment (94) with respect to the
tibial segment itself (91) take place. When the load is pushed
upwards (that is to say when it passes from the configuration of
FIG. 5 to the configuration of FIG. 6) the knee (93) executes a
translation, which is highlighted by an arrow (T) and the angles
defined by the tibial segment (92) respectively with the femoral
segment (94) and the foot (91) undergo simultaneous variations.
[0029] In the machine subject of the present invention, instead,
the angle the tibial segment (92) forms with the foot (91) remains
fixed and basically equal to 90.degree. .
[0030] To execute an exercise, the user's feet are disposed at the
vertical of the arrival point of the load at the end of the
trajectory along the guide (4) and his/her hands are on the handle
(2) of the load (3) which is adjacent to the lower bumper stop (61)
of the guide (4). In this configuration, the load, which was
initially off reference axis, has been brought onto the axis itself
where it is supported and from where it is possible to bring it off
axis again by lowering it along the guide which supports it during
its motion without causing cutting efforts on the articulations and
without a functional overload on the vertebral bodies.
[0031] The motion the user initially carries out (a motion upward
and a motion for distancing the load from the wall or from the back
support P) brings the load onto the reference axis, that is to say
onto the support point of the feet.
[0032] In other words, during the upward run (stroke) a sort of
"realignment" of the load takes place with respect to the reference
axis.
[0033] In the upward stroke of the load, the execution of the
exercise can be defined as concentric, while in the return run the
execution of the exercise will be eccentric. In this way, it is
possible to obtain a motion which cannot be carried out in nature
but said motion allows the creation of force couples in an
"unnatural way", said forces allowing the rotation of the
articulation as "naturally" as possible without the excessive
friction which may be caused by the cutting forces. This proves
extremely useful in motion rehabilitation therapies.
[0034] The execution details may equally vary as regards the shape,
the size, the disposition of the elements and the kind of material
that has been used within the solution idea that has been adopted
and within the limits of the protection offered by the present
patent.
* * * * *