Rehabilitation apparatus and method
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring rehabilitative patient therapy activity comprising:
- means for detecting muscle contraction or body movement;
means for operating a computer game including a display having a gamepiece, wherein said gamepiece has a position on said display;
means for setting said gamepiece display position responsive to said means for detecting muscle contraction or body movement, such that body movement can move said gamepiece on said display;
means for recording muscle contraction or body movement responsive to said body movement; and
means for retrieving said recorded muscle contraction or muscle contraction or body movement.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for rehabilitative therapy including a muscle contraction or body movement sensor coupled to a converter or interface, which is in turn coupled to a computer input port. The system includes software running on the computer for obtaining patient data, obtaining real time sensor data, storing sensor historical data, and outputting the sensor data as gamepiece movement or position in an executing computer game. In one embodiment, joint flexion and extension are required to move a cursor right and left. In another embodiment, joint rotation is required to move a cursor up and down. In one system the interface outputs data to a computer serial port. In one system, the relative sensor position is reflected in gamepiece position. In another system, the sensor position relative to a threshold is reflected in gamepiece movement after the body sensor passes a threshold in muscle contraction or body movement. A preferred system includes software for analyzing the therapy data, preparing a summary, and forwarding the data and/or summary to another computer. The system encourages repetitive muscle contraction or body movement and rehabilitative therapy by requiring body movement to play a computer game. The system allows tracking and analysis of those muscle contractions or body movements over a single session and over multiple sessions over days and months.
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Citations
47 Claims
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1. A system for monitoring rehabilitative patient therapy activity comprising:
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means for detecting muscle contraction or body movement;
means for operating a computer game including a display having a gamepiece, wherein said gamepiece has a position on said display;
means for setting said gamepiece display position responsive to said means for detecting muscle contraction or body movement, such that body movement can move said gamepiece on said display;
means for recording muscle contraction or body movement responsive to said body movement; and
means for retrieving said recorded muscle contraction or muscle contraction or body movement. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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14. A system for monitoring rehabilitative therapy of a patient comprising:
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at least one movement sensor for detecting muscle contraction or movement of a human body part, said detecting muscle contraction or movement sensor generating an output signal;
a computer having an input port operably coupled to said body sensor output signal and generating body detecting muscle contraction or movement data corresponding to said body sensor output signal;
a computer game running on said computer, said game using said input port body movement data as input to said game to set the display position of a gamepiece;
computer monitoring software executing on said computer, said computer software being capable of reading said input port body movement data, storing said data, retrieving said data, and displaying said data, such that said human body part movement generates input to both said computer game to move said gamepiece and to said monitoring computer program.
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27. A method for rehabilitation therapy of a patient comprising:
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providing a rehabilitation system including at least one body sensor for measuring muscle contraction or body movement having an output signal coupled to a computer executing software for receiving said output signal, and executing software for playing a computer game utilizing a display, wherein said computer game has a moveable gamepiece which moves in response to said received muscle contraction or body sensor signal, such that muscle contraction or body movement is required to play said game, wherein said computer software includes a tracking portion for storing said muscle contraction or body sensor signal;
attaching said muscle contraction or body sensor to said patient to for a session and allowing said patient to play said game by moving said computer game piece using said muscle contraction or body sensor movements; and
recording said muscle contraction or body sensor movements over time for said session using said computer.
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35. A system for monitoring rehabilitative therapy of a patient comprising:
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at least one muscle contraction or movement sensor for detecting muscle contraction or movement of a human body part, said muscle contraction or movement sensor generating an output signal;
a converter or interface having an input coupled to said muscle contraction or body sensor output, and a first interface output and a second interface output, both outputs being responsive to said interface input;
a computer having an input port operably coupled to said first interface output signal and generating muscle contraction or body movement data corresponding to said first interface output signal;
a remotely controlled device;
a remote device controller for controlling said remotely controlled device, said controller being operably coupled to and responsive to said computer software generated output, such that said controller uses said muscle contraction or body movement to control said remotely controlled device; and
computer monitoring software executing on said computer, said computer software being capable of reading said input port body movement data, storing said data, retrieving said data, and displaying said data, such that said human muscle contraction or body part movement generates input to both said remotely controlled device and to said monitoring computer program.
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43. A method for monitoring patient rehabilitation therapy progress comprising the steps of:
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providing a monitoring system including at least one body sensor for measuring muscle contraction or body movement having an output signal coupled to a computer executing software for receiving said output signal, and executing software for performing a computerized test utilizing a display, wherein said computerized test has a moveable cursor which moves in response to said received muscle contraction or body sensor signal, such that muscle contraction or body movement is required to execute said test, wherein said computer software includes a tracking portion for storing said muscle contraction or body sensor signal;
attaching said muscle contraction or body sensor to said patient for a test session and allowing said patient to execute said test by moving said computer cursor using said muscle contraction or body sensor movements;
recording said muscle contraction or body sensor movements over time for said test session using said computer;
displaying a target at one display location;
displaying said cursor at an initial display location away from said target display location;
prompting said patient to move said cursor to said target; and
recording at least one metric for measuring the ability to move said cursor to said target. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47)
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Specification