The present invention relates to an exercise system for physical rehabilitation and fitness and in particular to an exercise system that combines an extremity exercise system and a work simulator.
Extremity exercise systems are typically used for isolated joint (sometimes referred to as “open chain”) exercise where the patient is seated in a chair and performs a knee, hip, shoulder, or other pattern against an input adapter on the dynamometer. Examples of single-joint exercises include elbow extension/flexion, knee extension/flexion, and wrist radial/ulnar deviation, among others.
A second class of exercise devices is work simulators, which are used for multi joint (sometimes referred to as “closed chain”) exercise. In this case, the patient is typically standing and utilizes a dynamometer on a post with various input adapters including a wheel/cable, hand tools, or shoulder tools. In multi joint exercises, the hand or foot is fixed to an input adapter and multiple joints are free to move concurrently in space.
Examples of multi joint exercises include rowing, push-ups, and leg extension, among others.
It would be desirable to provide an improved exercise system that can be used for both extremity exercises and work simulator exercises
The present invention describes an exercise system for physical rehabilitation and fitness that combines an extremity exercise system and a work simulator system.
In general, in one aspect, the invention features an exercise and rehabilitation system including a patient positioning system, a dynamometer, an electronics module, a computer, and a communications module. The electronics module includes a servo-amplifier and a controller and the controller receives torque and position data from the dynamometer, computes the control signal for the servo-amplifier, receives high-level control settings from the computer and communicates torque and position data to the computer. The communications module is configured to communicate with the electronics module, and the computer.
Implementations of this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The computer communicates with the communications module and the electronics module via a wired or wireless connection. The dynamometer includes a first shaft extending along a vertical axis and is rotatable around the vertical axis and a second shaft extending along a horizontal axis and is rotatable around the horizontal axis, and the horizontal axis intersects the vertical axis. The exercise and rehabilitation system further includes a wheel attachment configured to be removably attached to the second shaft and to allow a user to perform work simulator exercises while standing in the open space around the common platform. The exercise and rehabilitation system further includes one or more attachments configured to be arranged inline with and removably attached to the second shaft and to allow a user to perform extremity exercises while seating in the patient positioning system or work simulator patterns when standing in the open space around the common platform. The computer includes and runs an application program and data storage, and provides a user interface and report generation. The dynamometer is movable along the vertical axis and tiltable relative to the vertical axis. The exercise and rehabilitation system may further include a removable vertical lifting attachment and a removable torso rotation attachment. The exercise and rehabilitation system may further include a biometric system that transmits biometric data to a data monitoring and recording computer. The biometric system includes an Electromyography (EMG) device and/or an Electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG) device. The communications module may also communicate with the biometric system. The electronics module transmits torque and position data and controller status data to the communications module and the biometric system transmits biometric data to the communications module. The communications module appends the biometric data to the torque and position data and controller status data and generates a resulting data package and transmits the resulting data package to a data monitoring and recording and control computer via a digital interface. The data monitoring and recording and control computer may also communicate command data to the electronics module and the biometric system via the communications module. The communications module may also transmit data to multiple computers. The patient positioning system, the dynamometer, and the electronics module are separate from each other and are supported onto a common platform. The computer is separate from the dynamometer, the patient positioning system and the electronics module and is supported in a cart that is separate from and movable around the common platform, thereby providing open space around the common platform.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features an exercise and rehabilitation system including a patient positioning system, a dynamometer, an electronics module, and a computer. The electronics module includes a servo-amplifier and a controller and the controller receives torque and position data from the dynamometer, computes the control signal for the servo-amplifier, receives high-level control settings from the computer and communicates torque and position data to the computer. The patient positioning system and the dynamometer are separate from each other and are supported onto a common platform. The electronic module and the computer are separate from the dynamometer and the patient positioning system and are supported in a cart that is separate from and movable around the common platform, thereby providing open space around the common platform.
Among the advantages of this invention may be one or more of the following. There is no need for two separate exercise systems. The exercise system of this invention occupies less space than two separate exercise systems.
Referring to the figures, wherein like numerals represent like parts throughout the several views:
Referring to
The improved exercise system of this invention provides the functionality of both an extremity system and a work simulator system.
Referring to
The electronics module 120 includes a servo amplifier and a controller. The computer 150 is separate from the electronic module 120 and includes a monitor 151. The servo amplifier provides a drive signal to the motor. The controller reads the torque and position data from the dynamometer, computes the control signal for the servo amplifier, receives high-level control settings from the personal computer 150 and communicates measured torque and position to the computer. The computer 150 runs an application program, provides a user interface, data storage, and report generation.
Referring to
In addition to the above-mentioned usage and attachment, the dynamometer 130 can be used as a drive/measurement source to a number of additional attachments. These additional attachments include a vertical lifting system, and a torso rotation system, among others. In the torso rotation system the cable from a traditional rotation weight stack machine is routed through the wheel mechanism 160, and the traditional weight stacks are replaced by the system's resistance and measurement functions. This same functionality of replacing the traditional weight stacks by the system's resistance and measurement functions is also used in the vertical lifting system. In other embodiments, the connection between the dynamometer controller and the computer 150 is wireless, i.e., Bluetooth, or other wireless network connections, as shown in
As was mentioned above, in a prior art exercise system 99 the electronics module 120 includes a servo amplifier, a controller and a computer 150. The controller reads the torque and position data from the dynamometer 130, computes the control signal for the servo amplifier, receives high-level control settings from the personal computer 150 and communicates measured torque and position to the computer 150. The computer runs an application program, provides a user interface, data storage, and report generation.
It is often desirable to correlate the torque and position data from system 99 with biometric data from various biometric sensors 226. Thus, prior art exercise 99 system may also be combined with a biometric system 200, as shown in
Referring to
Several embodiments of the present invention have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/724,592 filed on Nov. 9, 2012 and entitled EXERCISE SYSTEM FOR PHYSICAL REHABILITATION AND FITNESS, which is commonly assigned and the contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61724592 | Nov 2012 | US |