Cardiovascular conditioning and therapeutic system

• US 4,860,763 A
• Filed: 07/29/1987
• Issued: 08/29/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kevin L. Schminke
• Original Assignee: Kevin L. Schminke
• Inventors: Schminke, Kevin L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jaworski, Francis
• Assistant Examiner(s): Manuel, George
• Application Number:
  US07/078,898
• Time in Patent Office: 762 Days
• Field of Search: 128/707, 128/25 R, 128/696, 128/706, 128/904, 272/69, 272/129
• US Class Current: 600/520
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 22/0023 the inclination of the main axis of the movement path being adjustable, e.g. the inclination of an endless band
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 22/02 with movable endless bands , e.g. treadmills other training appliances for running on the spot A63B69/0028
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 22/025 electrically, e.g. D.C. motors with variable speed control
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/17 Counting, e.g. counting periodical movements, revolutions or cycles, or including further data processing to determine distances or speed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/20 with means for remote communication, e.g. internet or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/06 heartbeat rate only
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/062 used as a control parameter for the apparatus
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/904 Telephone telemetry

Abstract

A cardiovascular conditioning and therapeutic system which utilizes a mechanized powered exercise device for presenting a variable exercise work load to a user which in turn causes a corresponding variation in heart rate of the user. A heart rate transducer is operatively connected to the user, and an exercise work load transducer is operatively connected to the exercise device. A target heart rate for cardiovascular conditioning and therapy is determined, as is a conditioning period. The exercise device is actuated and incrementally increases work load until the user'"'"'s heart rate comes within a predetermined margin of the heart rate. A control circuitry continuously monitors current heart rate and compares it with the target heart rate. Once current heart rate enters the predetermined margin around the target heart rate, the conditioning period begins. Work load is increased, decreased, or maintained to in turn maintain current heart rate within the predetermined margin of the target heart rate for the conditioning period. The control circuitry repetitively maintains this condition until the end of the conditioning period, when work load is incrementally decreased until heart rate decreases to a preselected level.

Claims

1. A programmable cardiac rehabilitation system which allows flexible setting of prescribed exertion level or levels for rehabilitation for a patient, and which requires the patient to reach the prescribed level or levels of exertion and remain in a target range defining the prescribed level or levels of exertion, while at the same time being protected from dangerous or damaging exertion, so that the system automatically prevents both underexertion and overexertion comprising:

a treadmill which is electrically controlled;

a transducer means connected to the patient, said transducer means being in communication with a heart rate monitor whereby the heart rate of said patient is converted to an electrical signal;

a computer system in communication with said monitor and said treadmill;

an input/output card means electrically connected to said treadmill, said monitor, and said computer system, whereby said card means electrically interfaces between said treadmill, monitor, and said computer system and whereby said card means electrically communicates said electrical signal from said monitor to said computer system and allows electrical instructions to be transmitted from said computer system to said treadmill;

a software system loaded into said computer system providing instructions to said computer system, said computer system receiving signals from said monitor and sending signals to said treadmill, said software system providing an exercise program comprising a warm-up period having slow incremental increases in any of the treadmill operational factors in the set comprising elevation and speed of said treadmill, until a pre-selected target heart rate of said patient is achieved, a work period maintaining said target heart rate of said patient for a pre-selected length of time by controlling the treadmill operational factors and preventing either underexertion and overexertion, and a cool-down period decreasing said heart rate of said patient at slow increments by controlling the treadmill operational factors;

the exercise program having predetermined parameters selected for the particular patient, based on factors such as age, physical condition, medical criteria, and intended exercise purpose, including but not limited to target heart rate and length of work period;

means for recursive comparison of heart rate of the patient and the target heart rate including warm-up, work, and cool-down periods;

clock means for automatic timing of the work period, the clock means beginning timing upon completion of the warm-up period, and upon completion of the work period signalling the beginning of the cool-down period; and

automatic shut-down means for monitoring extreme variations in the heart rate of the patient and causing the treadmill to stop.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said computer is mounted on supporting structure arising from said treadmill whereby said patient can see said computer while using said treadmill.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said computer is personal computer of said patient whereby said system can be operated within the home of said patient.

12. The system of claim 8 comprising a plurality of exercise means each presenting a variable execise work load to a corresponding plurality of users and, the control means comprising a central control processor means which is operatively connected to each exercise means, and to a heart rate transducer means and exercise work load transducer means for each user, the central control processor means controlling operation of each exercise means according to pre-determined and pre-sent prescribed exertion levels and target ranges for each user.

14. The system of claim 12 where the central control processor means is communicable to remotely located exercise means.

2. A cardiac rehabilitation system comprising an electrically controlled treadmill;

a heart rate transducer means connected to a patient;

a heart rate monitor connected to said heart rate transducer means whereby the heart rate of said patient from the heart rate transducer means is converted to an electrical signal;

a computer receiving said electrical signal and sending a signal to said electrically controlled treadmill;

an input/output card connected to said computer, monitor, and treadmill whereby electrical signals from said monitor are communicated to said computer and instructions from said computer are transmitted to said treadmill and which allows flexible setting of prescribed exertion level or levels for rehabilitation for the patient, and which requires the patient to reach the prescribed level of exertion and remain in a target range defining the prescribed level exertion, while at the same time being protected from dangerous or damaging exertion, so that the system automatically prevents both underexertion and overexertion, the improvement comprising;

a software system for said computer for an exercise program comprising a warm-up period of slow incremental increases in the speed of said treadmill until a preselected target heart rate of said patient is achieved;

6. The system of claim 2 wherein said computer is mounted on supporting structure arising from said treadmill whereby said patient can see said computer while using said treadmill.

3. a work period consisting of maintaining said heart rate of said patient for a preselected length of time and preventing either underexertion and overexertion;

a cool-down period consisting of decreasing said heart rate of said patient at slow increment;

the software system including verification means for ensuring accuracy of the heart rate received and converted to the electrical signal by the heart rate monitor, and thus ensuring accuracy of control of the patient'"'"'s heart rate, the verification means including periodic monitoring means of heart rate of the patient, the monitoring means recursively averaging the most recent three periodic heart rates to eliminate random and equipment-caused erroneous heart rate signals which could cause dangerous and erroneous operation of the treadmill; and

shut-off of said treadmill.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein said computer is mounted on supporting structure arising from said treadmill whereby said patient can see said computer while using said treadmill.

4. A cardiac rehabilitation system having a treadmill and treadmill motor or motors which are electrically controlled;

a heart rate transducer means connected to a patient;

a heart rate monitor connected to said heart rate transducer means whereby the heart rate of said patient is converted to an electrical signal;

a computer having means for receiving said electrical signal and sending said electrical signal to said electrically controlled treadmill and treadmill motor or motors and which allows flexible setting of prescribed exertion level or levels for rehabilitation for each patient, and which requires the patient to reach the prescribed level of exertion and remain in a target range defining the prescribed level of exertion, while at the same time being protected from dangerous or damaging exertion, so that the system automatically prevents both underexertion and overexertion, the improvement comprising;

an input/output card connected to said computer, monitor, treadmill and treadmill motor or motors whereby electrical signals from said monitor are communicated to said computer and instructions from said computer are transmitted to said treadmill and treadmill motor or motors;

the input/output card including system time base means for providing a time base for synchronization of events and for accurate measurements in the cardiac rehabilitation system;

elapsed time means for timing at least a work period of an exercise program for the patient;

treadmill speed feedback means operatively connected to the treadmill for monitoring and producing a signal representative of the speed of the treadmill;

treadmill motor control means operatively connected to the treadmill and treadmill motor or motors for converting instructions from the computer into signals which can control on and off operation, speed, and elevation of the treadmill and operation and speed of the treadmill motor or motors;

heart rate monitor input means for converting the electrical signal from the heart rate monitor into a signal which is representative of the patient'"'"'s actual heart rate and is interpretable by the computer, so that any dangerous or damaging exertion is immediately detectable and the system controlled to protect the patient; and

input/output control logic means for coordinating timing and communication through the input/output card.

9. A cardiovascular conditioning and therapeutic system which allows flexible setting of prescribed exertion level or levels for rehabilitation for a patient, and which requires the patient to reach the prescribed level of exertion and remain in a target range defining the prescribed level of exertion, while at the same time being protected from dangerous or damaging exertion, so that the system automatically prevents both underexertion and overexertion comprising:

a mechanical powered exercise means presenting a variable exercise work load to a user, which in turn tends to cause a corresponding variation in heart rate of the user;

a heart rate transducer means operatively connectable to the patient for detecting, monitoring and producing a signal corresponding to the user'"'"'s heart rate;

an exercise work load transducer means operatively connectable to the exercise means for detecting and producing a signal corresponding to the current level of work load presented by the exercise means;

a control means operatively connected to the exercise means for controlling the exercise work load of the exercise means according to parameters, the parameters including at least length of time of exercise, the heart rate of the user, and a predetermined target heart rate for the user;

input means associated with the control means for entering the predetermined target heart rate to the control means so that the target heart rate is retained by the control means, and entering a length of time desired to operate the exercise means for conditioning period;

the control means being operatively adapted to receive the signals from the heart rate transducer means and exercise work load transducer means, to compare current heart rate of the user to the target heart rate, and to create and send instructions in the form of signals to the exercise means to vary the work load so that heart rate will approximately match the target heart rate;

the control means including start-up means for sending a signal to actuate the exercise means upon instruction, warm-up means to incrementally increase exercise work load to correspondingly incrementally increase the user'"'"'s heart rate during a warm-up period, and including means to produce a signal to reduce exercise work load if the heart rate exceeds the target rate, conditioning means for sending a signal by continuously monitoring an increasing or decreasing exercise work load to maintain heart rate at within a predetermined margin of the target heart rate, and cool-down means for sensing a signal incrementally decreasing the work load at the end of the entered length of time of the desired conditioning period; and

the control means also including verification means which recursively reads the signal corresponding to the user'"'"'s heart rate, the signal corresponding to the current level of work load, the predetermined target heart rate, and length of time desired for exercise and compares user'"'"'s heart rate, averaged over a plurality of recursive readings, with target heart rate, and verifies that such readings are within acceptable limits to verify accuracy of the readings, to eliminate spurious erroneous readings, and to ensure that user'"'"'s heart rate cannot move outside of safe limits without detection.

10. A cardiovascular conditioning and therapeutica system which allows flexible setting of prescribed exertion level or levels for rehabilitation for a patient, and which requires the patient to reach the prescribed level of exertion and remain in a target range defining the prescribed level of exertion, while at the same time being produced from dangerous or damaging exertion, so that the system automatically prevents both underexertion and overexertion comprising:

a motorized treadmill including movable belt, elevation means for varying the angle of the belt with respect to horizontal, a first motor which varies the speed of the belt between a stop condition and a maximum speed condition, and a second motor which varies the elevation means between a minimum angle position and a high angle position, said first and second motors being operatively connected to a power source;

a heart rate transducer operationally positionable upon a user to produce a signal corresponding to the user'"'"'s heart rate, said transducer being operatively associated with a display means for visually displaying current user heart rate;

a belt speed transducer operationally connected to the movable belt of the motorized treadmill to produce a signal corresponding to the rotational speed of the belt, the belt speed transducer including a switch means mounted to the treadmill, the switch means producing a count signal upon sensing moving indicia associated with movement of the treadmill belt, and compating means computing the belt'"'"'s speed by timing the period between count signals;

an elevation means transducer operationally connected to the elevation means of the motorized treadmill to produce a signal corresponding to the angle of the belt with respect to horizontal, the elevation means transducer including a timer means which measures the period of time the second motor runs when actuated and correlates such period of time into an angle of elevation of the treadmill, and producing an elevation signal representing such elevation;

computer means operatively connected to the first and second motors of the treadmill and the belt speed and elevation means transducers;

user input means in said computer means which receives input, including predetermined target heart rate and length of operation of the treadmill for a conditioning period, transducer input means in said computer means which receives the signals from the heart rate transducer, belt speed transducer and elevation means transducer, for monitoring heart rate, calculating the difference between the current heart rate and target rate, and monitoring belt speed and elevation of belt of the treadmill; and

instruction output means in said computing means for sending signals selectively to the first and second motors to vary speed and angle of the belt of the treadmill until heart rate approximately matches the target heart rate.

11. A method of cardiovascular conditioning and therapy which allows flexible setting of prescribed exertion level or levels for rehabilitation for a user, and which requires the user to reach the prescribed level of exertion and remain in a target range defining the prescribed level of exertion, while at the same time being protected from dangerous or damaging exertion, so that the system automatically prevents both underexertion and overexertion comprising the steps of:

positioning a user upon a mechanized powered exercise means which can present a variable exercise work load to the user which in turn causes a corresponding variation in heart rate of the user;

operatively connecting a heart rate transducer means to the user for monitoring and producing a signal corresponding to the user'"'"'s heart rate;

operatively connecting an exercise work load transducer means to the exercise means for producing an electrical signal corresponding to the current level of work load of the exercise means;

continuously monitoring the heart rate of the user by recursively sampling the signal corresponding the user'"'"'s heart rate over a plurality of consecutive sampling times and averaging the signals at the plurality of consecutive sampling times to ensure accuracy and to prevent spurious and random error which might occur without consecutive sampling and averaging;

determining a target heart rate for conditioning and therapeutic purposes of the user;

determining a desired conditioning period of time for the user;

actuating the exercise means to present a variable exercise work load to the user;

incrementally increasing the exercise work load to incrementally increase the user'"'"'s heart rate during a warm-up period, while continuously monitoring the user'"'"'s heart rate;

reducing the exercise work load if the heart rate exceeds the target rate;

repetitively comparing current user'"'"'s heart rate to target heart rate, and increasing exercise work load until current user heart rate comes within a predetermined range of the target heart rate;

beginning timing of the conditioning period when the current heart rate enters the predetermined margin of the target heart rate;

increasing, decreasing or maintaining exercise work load to maintain current user heart rate within the predetermined margin of the target heart rate during the conditioning period and preventing either underexertion and overexertion;

incrementally decreasing the work load at the end of the conditioning period until current user heart rate decreases to a predetermined level; and

verifying that the user'"'"'s heart rate is within acceptable limits at all times during operation of the system by utilizing the recursive sampling of the signal corresponding to the user'"'"'s heart rate to continuously compare the user'"'"'s heart rate to the target range, and by automatically stopping the work load presented to the user if the user'"'"'s heart rate substantially varies outside acceptable limits.

13. The system of claim 11 where the central control processor means is communicable with one or more exercise means so that any number of exercise means can be operated simultaneously.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the central control processor means is communicable to remotely located exercise means by electrical communication through telephone lines.