Method and device for evaluating the balance forces of the skeleton
First Claim
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1. A method for evaluating the balance forces of a skeleton within a subject'"'"'s body, comprising:
- a) producing a radiographic image of the skeleton, the skeleton having segments articulated to one another, taken in a plane generally perpendicular to the rotation axes of the articulations of the skeleton, b) simultaneously determining the position of the overall axis of gravity (5) of the subject'"'"'s body on the radiographic image, c) selecting the skeleton segments articulated to one another on the radiographic image, identifying their positions and those of the articulations, and assigning the weight of the subject'"'"'s body segment corresponding to each skeleton segment, d) identifying the directions and anchoring points on the radiographic image of the main tensor muscles balancing the subject'"'"'s skeleton, and e) determining the intensity of a restoring force exerted by the main tensor muscles by calculation, wherein the restoring force compensates for the rotational moment of the force of gravity applied to each skeleton segment about the lower articulation of said skeleton segment.
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Abstract
The invention concerns a method which consists in producing a radiographic image of the skeleton to be studied, determining the position of the body'"'"'s global axis of gravity (5), selecting on the image segments of the skeleton (S1-S7) to be considered and their articulations (A5), locating the main tensor muscles (M1-M6, M62), and determining by calculation the intensity of the return forces exerted by said tensor muscles to compensate the gravitational force.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for evaluating the balance forces of a skeleton within a subject'"'"'s body, comprising:
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a) producing a radiographic image of the skeleton, the skeleton having segments articulated to one another, taken in a plane generally perpendicular to the rotation axes of the articulations of the skeleton, b) simultaneously determining the position of the overall axis of gravity (5) of the subject'"'"'s body on the radiographic image, c) selecting the skeleton segments articulated to one another on the radiographic image, identifying their positions and those of the articulations, and assigning the weight of the subject'"'"'s body segment corresponding to each skeleton segment, d) identifying the directions and anchoring points on the radiographic image of the main tensor muscles balancing the subject'"'"'s skeleton, and e) determining the intensity of a restoring force exerted by the main tensor muscles by calculation, wherein the restoring force compensates for the rotational moment of the force of gravity applied to each skeleton segment about the lower articulation of said skeleton segment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A device for evaluating the balance forces of the skeleton of a subject, the skeleton having segments articulated to one another and the subject having balancing tensor muscles attached to the skeleton at anchoring points, comprising:
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an X-ray source (1) and support means for a target plate (2) sensitive to X-rays, a subject support plate (3) for supporting the subject (4) in a fixed position between the X-ray source and the support means for the target plate (2) and to generate image position signals of a horizontal position (Og) of the overall axis of gravity (5) of the subject (4), means (20) for digitizing the radiographic image of the subject on the target plate, so as to generate a digitized radiographic image which is stored in a suitable memory, means (21) for superimposing the digitized image of a shadow (Hg), cast by the overall axis of gravity (5) on the target plate (2), onto the digitized radiographic image of the subject, means (22) for selecting, on the digitized radiographic image, the articulated skeleton segments and their articulations, and the anchoring points of the balancing tensor muscles, and computation means (21) and a program for calculating the intensity of the restoring force exerted by the balancing tensor muscles, wherein the restoring force compensates for the rotational moment of the force of gravity applied to each skeleton segment about the lower articulation of said skeleton segment. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification