Leg portion training device

• US 20060229170A1
• Filed: 05/21/2004
• Published: 10/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Shinomiya, Youichi, Ozawa, Takahisa, Toyomi, Yuritsugu, Kawamoto, Minoru, Ochi, Kazuhiro, Ishino, Kouichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,323,156 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 482/92
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 1/003 Rocking or oscillating around a horizontal axis transversal to the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 1/0229 by reducing gravity forces normally applied to the body, e.g. by lifting or hanging the body or part of it
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 1/0255 Both knee and hip of a patient, e.g. in supine or sitting position, the feet being moved in a plane substantially parallel to the body-symmetrical-plane A61H1/0214 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/1215 Rotary drive
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/164 Feet or leg, e.g. pedal
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/5061 Force sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/5092 Optical sensor
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2203/0406 Standing on the feet
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2203/0425 Sitting on the buttocks
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2203/0481 Hanging
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 21/00178 for active exercising, the apparatus being also usable for passive exercising
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 21/00181 comprising additional means assisting the user to overcome part of the resisting force, i.e. assisted-active exercising
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 21/068 using user's body weight
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 22/16 Platforms for rocking motion about a horizontal axis , e.g. axis through the middle of the platform; Balancing drums; Balancing boards or the like exercising apparatus with cantilevered support elements pivoting about an axis A63B22/0056; other exercising apparatus for improving balance A63B26/003
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 22/18 with elements, i.e. platforms, having a circulating, nutating or rotating movement, generated by oscillating movement of the user, e.g. platforms wobbling on a centrally arranged spherical supporthoop exercising apparatus A63B19/00; eccentric weights put into orbital motion by nutating movement of the user A63B21/0608; pots rotating or rocking by moving the whole body A63G23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2208/0204 Standing on the feet
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2208/0233 in 90/90 position, like on a chair
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2208/0285 Hanging
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/13 Relative positions
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/51 Force
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/093 : Height
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/20 : blood composition characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/60 : muscle strain, i.e. measured on the user
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 23/0405 : involving a bending of the knee and hip joints simultaneously A63B23/0476 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 23/0494 : primarily by articulating the knee joints A63B23/0405, A63B23/0476 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/00 : Electric or electronic controls for exercising apparatus of preceding groups; Controlling or monitoring of exercises, sportive games, training or athletic performances

Abstract

A leg training equipment has a base fixed in place, a support portion configured to support a part of a user'"'"'s body, and a coupling mechanism provided between the base and the support portion. The coupling mechanism movably couples the support portion to the base such that a load applied to a leg of the user by the user'"'"'s own weight changes by a relative positional displacement between a foot position and a position of center of gravity of the user. In addition, the coupling mechanism limits a movable direction of the support portion such that at least when the load applied to the leg increases, a direction of the relative positional displacement between the foot position and the position of center of gravity is substantially limited to a direction of flexion and extension of knee joint. Thereby, it is possible to efficiently provide the user with an exercise that applies less load on the knee joint.

Claims

1. A leg training equipment comprising:

a base fixed in place;

a support portion configured to support a part of a user'"'"'s body such that at least a part of the user'"'"'s own weight acts on a leg including a femoral region; and

a coupling mechanism configured to movably couple said support portion to said base such that a load applied to said leg by the user'"'"'s own weight changes by a relative positional displacement between a foot position and a position of center of gravity of the user, and configured to limit a movable direction of said support portion such that at least when the load applied to said leg increases, a direction of the relative positional displacement between the foot position and the position of center of gravity is substantially limited to a direction of flexion and extension of knee joint.

2. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 1, wherein said support portion comprises a footplate, on which the user'"'"'s foot is placed.

3. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 1, wherein said supporting portion comprises a support means configured to support the user in a sitting posture.

4. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 1, wherein said support portion comprises a support means configured to support the user in a hanging posture.

5. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 1, wherein said coupling mechanism limits the movable direction of said support portion such that a distance between the foot position and a hip position of the user is kept substantially constant.

6. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 3, wherein said support means comprises a seat member configured to support a hip of the user, and said seat member is movably coupled in an oscillating manner to said base through said coupling mechanism.

7. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 6, further comprising a drive unit configured to move said seat member in the oscillating manner.

8. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 2, wherein said footplate is coupled to said base through said coupling mechanism so as to be movable relative to said base in at least one of horizontal and vertical directions.

9. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 8, wherein said coupling mechanism comprises an elastic member disposed at a bottom side of said footplate.

10. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 1, wherein said support portion comprises a seat member configured to support a hip of the user and movably coupled in an oscillating manner to said base through said coupling mechanism, and a footplate on which the user'"'"'s foot is placed, and the leg training equipment further comprises an interlock unit configured to provide a motion of said footplate in synchronization with the oscillating motion of said seat member.

11. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 10, further comprising a first drive unit configured to move said seat member in the oscillating manner, a second drive unit configured to move said footplate, and a control unit configured to control the first drive unit and the second drive unit in a synchronous manner.

12. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 11, wherein said control unit controls the motions of said seat member and said footplate to provide a reciprocating oscillating motion of said seat member between a position where said seat member is in an upright posture against said base and a position where said seat member is in an inclined posture against the upright posture by an angle of 5 degrees or less, so that a knee angle of the user is kept at 40 degrees or less, and a reciprocating number per second of the reciprocating oscillating motion of said seat member is 2 or less.

13. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 6, wherein said seat member comprises a post coupled to said base through said coupling mechanism, a saddle disposed at a top end of said post to support the hip of the user, and a joining means configured to join said saddle with said post to provide at least one of a parallel movement and a rotational movement of said saddle relative to said post.

14. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 13, wherein said joining means movably supports said saddle to said post in a seesaw fashion.

15. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 13, wherein said joining means slidably supports said saddle in a plane intersecting an axial direction of said post.

16. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 15, comprising a saddle drive unit configured to provide a slide movement of said saddle relative to said post.

17. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 13, wherein said post is retractable in its longitudinal direction, and the leg training equipment comprises a post drive unit configured to provide extension and contraction of said post.

18. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 13, wherein said post is retractable in its longitudinal direction, and the leg training equipment further comprises a footplate on which the user'"'"'s foot is placed, and a control unit configured to control a first drive unit configured to move said seat member in the oscillating manner in synchronization with at least one of a second drive unit configured to drive said footplate, a third drive unit configured to provide extension and contraction of said post, and a fourth drive unit configured to provide a slide movement of said saddle in a plane intersecting an axial direction of said post.

19. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a measurement unit configured to measure a physiological measurement value concerning metabolism, an evaluation unit configured to determine the metabolism from an output of said measurement unit, a load applying unit configured to apply a load to the user, and a control unit configured to control a magnitude of the load to be applied to the user by said load applying unit according to the metabolism provided from said evaluation unit.

20. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 19, wherein said evaluation unit assigns weights to the physiological measurement value by use of a weighting factor, which is one of a volume of muscles for an exercise provided by said load applying unit and a volume of red muscles for said exercise, thereby obtain a weighted physiological measurement value as the metabolism.

21. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 1, comprising a load sensor provided on said support portion to detect a load applied to the leg relative to the user'"'"'s own weight, and a load-change informing unit configured to inform a change of the load detected by said load sensor with respect to time to the user in a real-time manner.

22. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 10, wherein said interlock unit provides the motion of said footplate in synchronization with the oscillating motion of said seat member such that a bending angle of the knee joint of the user is in a range of 45 degrees or less when the position of center of gravity of the user is changed under a condition that the user sits on said seat member and places the foot on said footplate.

23. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 10, wherein said interlock unit provides the motion of said footplate in synchronization with the oscillating motion of said seat member such that a bending angle of the knee joint of the user is kept substantially constant when the position of center of gravity of the user is changed.

24. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 10, wherein said interlock unit selectively provides a first exercise mode where the motion of said footplate is provided in synchronization with the oscillating motion of said seat member such that a bending angle of the knee joint of the user is in a range of 45 degrees or less when the position of center of gravity of the user is changed under a condition that the user sits on said seat member and places the foot on said footplate, and a second exercise mode where the motion of said footplate is provided in synchronization with the oscillating motion of said seat member such that the bending angle of the knee joint of the user is kept substantially constant when the position of center of gravity of the user is changed, and wherein the leg training equipment comprises a selector configured to select one of the first exercise mode and the second exercise mode.

25. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 1, comprising an input unit configured to input data of the user, a calculation unit configured to calculate an appropriate range of a pressure to be applied to said support portion by the user according to the data input from said input unit, a pressure sensor configured to detect a pressure actually applied to said support portion by the user, and a display unit configured to indicate the appropriate range provided by said calculation unit and the actual pressure value detected by said pressure sensor to the user.

26. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 1, comprising an input unit configured to input data of the user, a calculation unit configured to calculate an appropriate range of a pressure to be applied to said support portion by the user according to the data input from said input unit, a pressure sensor configured to detect a pressure actually applied to said support portion by the user, and a control unit configured to control said coupling mechanism in a feedback manner such that the pressure value detected by said pressure sensor is kept within said appropriate range.

27. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 4, wherein said support means comprises a body holding unit configured to hold the user'"'"'s body in the hanging posture and movably coupled in an oscillating manner to said base through said coupling mechanism, and a footplate on which the user'"'"'s foot is placed, and wherein the leg training equipment further comprises an interlock unit configured to provide a motion of said footplate in synchronization with the oscillating motion of said body holding unit.

28. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 27, wherein said body holding unit comprises a waist holding member configured to hold the user'"'"'s waist, and a hanging member for the user configured to be retractable in its axial direction.

29. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 27, comprising a drive unit configured to move said body holding unit in an oscillating manner.

30. The leg training equipment as set forth in claim 27, comprising a first drive unit configured to move said body holding unit in an oscillating manner, a second drive unit configured to move said footplate, and a control unit configured to control the first drive unit and the second drive unit in a synchronous manner.