Movement guiding system for quantifying diagnosing and treating impaired movement performance
First Claim
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1. A method for quantifying the movement impairment of a limb of a user using constraint forces, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) guiding the movement of a limb along a path;
(b) measuring the extent of movement of the limb along the path;
(c) measuring the constraint forces applied by the limb; and
(d) generating physical representations of the constraint forces applied as a function of the movement position of the limb along the path.
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Abstract
The present invention provides a guide that can be used to quantify impaired movement performance of a limb, to diagnose whether passive, active, or reflexive impairments limit movement performance, to quantify the resistance to movement provided by the limb at the workspace boundary, and to provide a means for a user to practice improving movement performance of the limb.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method for quantifying the movement impairment of a limb of a user using constraint forces, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) guiding the movement of a limb along a path; (b) measuring the extent of movement of the limb along the path; (c) measuring the constraint forces applied by the limb; and (d) generating physical representations of the constraint forces applied as a function of the movement position of the limb along the path. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method for diagnosing the movement impairment of a limb of a user using constraint forces, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) measuring the constraint forces applied by a limb along a path during a constant velocity voluntary movement of the limb at a specified velocity; (b) measuring the constraint forces applied by the limb along the path during a slow, isovelocity imposed movement of the limb with the user attempting to relax all muscles of the limb, the slow imposed movement being at such a speed so as to avoid excitation of velocity-dependent reflexes in stretched muscles of the limb; (c) measuring the constraint forces applied by the limb along the path during an isovelocity voluntary movement of the limb at the specified speed with the user attempting to relax all muscles of the limb; and (d) comparing the constraint forces generated in steps (a)-(c).
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4. A method for quantifying workspace deficits of a limb of a user, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) guiding a limb along a path; (b) measuring the extrema of movement of the limb along the path; (c) varying the orientation of the path with respect to the user to allow for movement of the limb in different directions; and (d) generating a physical representation of the extrema of movement of the limb as a function of the orientation of the path, thereby identifying any workspace deficits of the limb. - View Dependent Claims (5)
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6. A method for diagnosing workspace deficits of a limb of a user, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) guiding a limb along a path; (b) measuring the workspace boundary during passive imposed movements of the limb; (c) measuring the workspace boundary during voluntary movement of the limb; and (d) comparing the boundaries measured in steps (b) and (c) to determine whether passive properties of the limb limit the voluntary movement workspace of the limb. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. An apparatus for quantifying, diagnosing and treating movement impairment of a limb of a user using constraint forces comprising:
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means for guiding movement of a limb along a path; means for measuring the extent of movement of the limb along the path; means for measuring the constraint forces applied against the guiding means; and means for generating physical representations of the constraint forces as a function of movement position of the limb. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for quantifying, diagnosing, and treating workspace deficits of a limb of a user comprising:
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means for guiding the movement of a limb along a path; means for measuring the extrema of movement of the limb along the path; means for varying the orientation of the guiding means with respect to the user to allow for the movement of the limb in different directions; and means for generating a physical representation of the extrema movement as a function of the guiding means orientation. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A movement guiding apparatus for quantifying, diagnosing, and treating impaired movement performance of a limb of a user, the apparatus comprising:
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means for coupling a limb of a user to the apparatus; means for guiding the limb along a path; means for varying the orientation of the guiding means with respect to the user to allow for the movement of the limb in different directions; means for measuring the movement of the limb along the path, means for measuring constraint forces and torque generated by the limb; control means for receiving the measured values in order to quantify, diagnose and treat the impaired movement performance of limbs; means for generating a physical representation of constraint forces as a function of the movement of the limb; and means for generating a physical representation of the extent of movement as a function of the guiding means orientation. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification