Exercise Aid Device

• US 20080312040A1
• Filed: 07/21/2005
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Electric Works Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Asahi Matsushita Electric Works Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ochi, Kazuhiro, Shinomiya, Youichi, Ozawa, Takahisa
• Granted Patent: US 7,942,783 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 482/8
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 1/0244 Hip A61H1/0255 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2203/0425 Sitting on the buttocks
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2208/0228 Sitting on the buttocks
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 23/0405 involving a bending of the knee and hip joints simultaneously A63B23/0476 takes precedence

Abstract

An exercise aid device has a hip supporting member movable relative to a base, footrests movable relative to the base, drive means for driving the hip supporting member, body constitution estimating unit for estimating at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of a user, and a controller for the drive means. The controller controls the drive means such that a load acting on a femoral region by own weight of the user supported on the hip supporting member changes according to a relative positional displacement between the user'"'"'s toe and trochanter major, the positional displacement is allowed in a direction of flexion and extension of knee joint of the user, and an angle of the knee joint is maintained substantially constant. In addition, since the controller controls the drive means by use of an output of the body constitution estimating unit, it is possible to provide an exercise with less burden to the knee joint and a suitable strength for the user.

Claims

1. An exercise aid device comprising:

a base;

a supporting member movable relative to said base, which is configured to support a hip of a user;

a footrest movable relative to said base;

a drive means configured to drive at least one of said footrest and said supporting member; and

a controller configured to control said drive means such that a load acting on a femoral region by own weight of the user supported on said supporting member changes according to a relative positional displacement between the user'"'"'s toe and trochanter major, said positional displacement is allowed in a direction of flexion and extension of knee joint of the user, and an angle of the knee joint is maintained substantially constant.

2. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a body constitution estimating unit configured to estimate at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user, and wherein said controller controls said drive means by use of an output of said body estimation unit.

3. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 2, further comprising a grip which is held by the user, a pair of first electrodes disposed on said footrest, a pair of second electrodes provided on said grip, and an impedance measuring unit configured to measure a bioelectrical impedance of the user by detecting a potential difference between one of said first electrodes and one of said second electrodes, while applying a high frequency current between the other first electrode and the other second electrode, under the condition that the user'"'"'s foot is placed on said footrest and said grip is held by the user, and wherein said body constitution estimating unit estimates at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user by use of an output of said impedance measuring unit.

4. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 3, further comprising a body weight input unit configured to input the user'"'"'s body weight, and said body constitution estimating unit estimates at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user by use of the output of said impedance measuring unit and the user'"'"'s body weight input by said body weight input unit.

5. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 3, further comprising a body information input unit configured to input body weight and body height of the user, and an energy expenditure operation unit configured to calculate one of an energy expenditure per unit time of the user during exercise and a target energy expenditure per unit time of the user by use of an output of said body constitution estimating unit and the user'"'"'s body weight and body height input by said body information input unit, and wherein said controller controls said drive means according to an output of said energy expenditure operation unit.

6. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 3, further comprising a load sensor configured to detect a load acting on said footrest, and a body weight estimating unit configured to estimate the user'"'"'s body weight by use of an output of said load sensor, and wherein said body constitution estimating unit estimates at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user by use of outputs of said impedance measuring unit and said body weight estimating unit.

7. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 3, wherein said supporting member is length-adjustable in a height direction, and the exercise aid device comprises a distance sensor configured to detect the length of said supporting member in the height direction, and a body height estimating unit configured to estimate the user'"'"'s body height by use of an output of said distance sensor, and wherein said body constitution estimating unit estimates at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user by use of outputs of said impedance measuring unit and said body height estimating unit.

8. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 3, further comprising a memory configured to record a change in at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user, and an evaluation unit configured to evaluate exercise effects according to the change recorded in said memory, and wherein said controller controls said drive means by use of an output of said evaluation unit.

9. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a memory configured to record a plurality of exercise programs by biological profile, and an input unit configured to input the user'"'"'s biological profile, and wherein said controller reads out from said memory one of said exercise programs which corresponds to the user'"'"'s biological profile input by said input unit, and controls said drive means according to the read-out exercise program.

10. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said drive means drives only said supporting member.

11. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said drive means drives said supporting member and said footrest in an interlocking manner.

12. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a load sensor configured to detect a load acting on said footrest, and an operation unit configured to estimate a force acting on the knee joint of the user by use of an output of said load sensor, and wherein said controller controls said drive means in a real-time manner such that the force estimated by said operation unit is within a predetermined range.

13. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 12, wherein said controller causes said drive means to stop when the force estimated by said operation unit exceeds a predetermined upper-limit value.

14. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 12, wherein said controller controls an operation speed of said drive means such that the force estimated by said operation unit is within said range.

15. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 12, further comprising a display means configured to display the force estimated by said operation unit to the user.