Method of measuring a subject's physical strength and apparatus therefor

• US 5,448,998 A
• Filed: 09/28/1993
• Issued: 09/12/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Combi Wellness Corp. (Konami Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Combi Corporation (Matsuura Family)
• Inventors: Ishiguro, Terumi, Ito, Masao, Mizuno, Masaaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Cohen, Lee S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): GREEN, BRIAN
• Application Number:
  US08/127,599
• Time in Patent Office: 714 Days
• Field of Search: 128/671, 128/668, 128/670, 128/707, 128/716, 128/719, 128/700, 128/706, 128/691, 482/900
• US Class Current: 600/531
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/222 combined with detection or measurement of physiological parameters, e.g. heart rate

Abstract

A method of measuring physical strength of a subject and an apparatus therefor in which the maximum oxygen uptake based on 75% of the estimated maximum heart rate as a reference is estimated to thereby evaluate physical strength based on the oxygen uptake during exercise. The oxygen uptake is used as an index for evaluating physical strength, and 2@75% HRmax, which is oxygen uptake measured at 75% of estimated maximum heart rate, is used as a reference so that comparison can be made safely with a measured value even for middle and high ages. The apparatus is provided with a load device which can give a ramp load to a subject (e.g. 15 W/min to male and 10 W/min to female), a pulse rate detecting device which can measure pulse rate successively in the duration in which the load is given to the subject, and a device for averaging the measured pulse rate and the value of the given load over small time periods, subjecting the value of the pulse rate relative to the value of the load to straight line regression, and calculating the slope A and offset B of the resulting straight line.

Claims

1. A method of measuring the physical strength of a subject comprising the steps of:

exercising said subject for a period of time thereby increasing a heart rate of said subject

terminating said exercise when the heart rate of the subject has reached 75% of the subject'"'"'s maximum heart rate HRmax;

measuring oxygen uptake after terminating the exercise period; and

evaluating said measured oxygen uptake as a physical strength indicator.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining the maximum heart rate HRmax based on the relationship, HRmax=209-(0.69×

age) when the subject is male and the relationship HRmax=205-(0.75×

age) when the subject is female, age being the subject'"'"'s age.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

determining the maximum heart rate HRmax based on the relationship, HRmax=220-age, age being the subject'"'"'s age.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

exercising the subject using a bicycle ergometer having an increasing ramp load; and

setting a rate of said ramp load so that the heart rate of the subject reaches 75% of the subject'"'"'s maximum heart rate HRmax in about 10 minutes.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising:

setting said ramp load to 15 W/min for a male subject and 10 W/min for a female subject.

6. A method of estimating physical strength of an individual subject comprising the steps of:

applying an increasing load to a plurality of male and female subjects;

measuring oxygen uptake, VO₂, of said male and female subjects while applying said load and generating oxygen uptake data;

collecting said oxygen uptake data indicating oxygen uptake relative to said load value;

subjecting said oxygen uptake data to regression to obtain a straight line (W- O₂ straight line) while excluding oxygen uptake data obtained within one minute from a start of measurement;

applying a ramp load to said individual subject;

measuring a heart rate of said individual subject while applying said ramp load to obtain a load value, PWC75% HRmax, when the heart rate reaches 75% of the subject'"'"'s maximum heart rate;

substituting PWC75% HRmax as a load value into said obtained straight line, and

determining an actual value of O₂ @75% HRmax (oxygen uptake when the heart rate reaches 75% of estimated maximum heart rate) as a physical strength indicator.

7. A method of estimating physical strength of an individual subject comprising the steps of:

applying an increasing load to a plurality of male and female subjects;

measuring oxygen uptake, VO₂, of said male and female subjects while applying said load and collecting oxygen uptake data;

subjecting said oxygen uptake data to linear regression to determine the relationship

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">VO.sub.2 =C*W+D,

between oxygen uptake, VO₂, and a load W, where C is a determined slope and D is a determined offset; and

estimating oxygen uptake at 75% of a maximum heart rate of the individual subject as a strength indicator using said determined slope C and said determined offset D.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said step of subjecting said oxygen uptake data to linear regression further comprises:

excluding oxygen uptake data collected during a first minute of application of said load.

9. A method of estimating physical strength comprising the steps of:

applying an increasing ramp load to a subject;

measuring a heart rate of said subject while applying said ramp load to obtain heart rate data while said heart rate is greater than 100 beats per minute and not greater than 75% of a maximum heart rate of said subject;

subjecting said heart rate data to linear regression to obtain the relationship

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">HR=A*W+B,

where HR is heart rate, A is a determined slope, W is a load and B is a determined offset; and

estimating physical strength of the subject using said determined slope A and said determined offset B.

10. A method of estimating physical strength of an individual subject comprising the steps of:

applying an increasing load to a plurality of male and female subjects;

measuring oxygen uptake, VO₂, of said male and female subjects while applying said load and collecting oxygen uptake data;

subjecting said oxygen uptake data to linear regression to determine the relationship

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">VO.sub.2 =C*W+D,

between oxygen uptake, VO₂, and a load W, where C is a first determined slope and D is a first determined offset;

applying a ramp load to said individual subject;

measuring a heart rate of said individual subject while applying said ramp load to obtain heart rate data while said heart rate is greater than 100 beats per minute and not greater than 75% of a maximum heart rate of said individual subject;

subjecting said heart rate data to linear regression to obtain the relationship

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">HR=A*W+B,

where HR is heart rate, A is a second determined slope, W is a load and B is a second determined offset; and

estimating an oxygen uptake, VO₂, of said individual subject as a physical strength indicator by substituting a value equal to 75% of the individual subject'"'"'s maximum heart rate for HR in the following expression;

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">VO.sub.2 =C/A*HR+[D-(B*C)/A].

11. A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein said step of subjecting said oxygen uptake data to linear regression further comprises:

excluding oxygen uptake data collected during a first minute of application of said load.

12. An apparatus for estimating physical strength of an individual subject during an exercise period, comprising:

an input device receiving input data regarding at least one of said subject'"'"'s age, sex and weight;

a storage device storing data regarding W- O₂ (load versus oxygen uptake) for a plurality of male and female subjects separately;

a pulse rate detector measuring a pulse rate of said individual subject and outputting pulse rate data;

a bicycle ergometer having an electro-magnetic eddy-current brake configured to apply a linearally increasing load to said subject, said load being based on an electrical signal applied to said electro-magnetic brake;

a micro-processor collecting said pulse rate data from said pulse rate detector, receiving input data from said input device and data regarding W- O₂ from said storage device and providing said electrical signal to said electro-magnetic brake; and

a display device connected to said micro-processor;

wherein said micro-processor determines an estimate of the subject'"'"'s physical strength based on said collected pulse rate data, said received data from said input device and said stored data regarding W- O₂ (load versus oxygen uptake) for male and female subjects separately and displays said determined estimate of physical strength on said display device.

13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said signal provided to said bicycle ergometer by said micro-processor causes the brake to apply the load at an increasing rate of 15 W/minute for a male subject and 10 W/minute for a female subject during said exercise period.