Patent Application
20210330484
The present invention relates to a posterior upright of an ankle foot orthosis and an ankle foot orthosis.
A patient who has a disability, in which the patient cannot freely move an ankle joint with his or her own intention, due to hemiplegia or peripheral nerve palsy caused by a stroke, cerebral hemorrhage, or cerebral infarction cannot move body weight smoothly since a toe drops during walking (foot drop), and has difficulty walking.
A patient with such a symptom of foot drop has trouble walking due to a toe being caught by the floor, and the like. Therefore, an ankle foot orthosis has been used as an auxiliary tool so that walking close to normal walking is achieved.
In such an ankle foot orthosis, when an ankle joint is firmly fixed and both a plantar flexion motion and a dorsal flexion motion are blocked, the ankle joint becomes almost unmovable, causing walking to become unnatural.
It has already been known that an ankle foot orthosis that matches with a body shape of each disabled person can be provided promptly by configuring the ankle foot orthosis with three components, which are a foot placing body on which a foot portion can be placed, a lower leg cuff mounted on a lower leg portion of a disable person, and a posterior upright connecting the lower leg cuff and the foot placing body, and by appropriately selecting these components so that ankle foot orthoses of different specifications are manufactured promptly (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
According to Patent Literature 1, a hinge mechanism is provided between the posterior upright and the foot placing body, and between the lower leg cuff and the posterior upright, so that a plantar flexion motion (bending in a direction in which a toe drops) or a dorsal flexion motion (bending in a direction in which a toe is raised) of an ankle joint can be performed, and also a shift between the lower leg cuff and the calf during walking and the like can be absorbed.
Patent Literature 1: JP 2004-344297 A
However, the technique described in Patent Literature 1, which uses two hinge mechanisms, has a complicated structure.
The inventor has made the present invention by arriving at an idea that, by improving a structure of a posterior upright, degree of bending deformation of the posterior upright itself can be adjusted without providing such a hinge mechanism, and a foot can be moved well.
An object of the present invention is to make the degree of bending deformation of a posterior upright of an ankle foot orthosis adjustable, so that a wearer can move his or her foot well.
The invention according to claim 1 is directed to a posterior upright of an ankle foot orthosis that is provided between a footrest portion on which a foot portion is placed and a lower leg mounting portion mounted on a lower leg portion below a knee, in which a plurality of FRP sheets are laminated, and an upper end portion and a lower end portion of the FRP sheets are joined by heat sealing, the upper end portion is a portion connected to the lower leg mounting portion, and the lower end portion is a portion connected to a heel posterior portion of the footrest portion, and an intermediate portion between the upper end portion and the lower end portion has a structure having a gap between the FRP sheets.
In this manner, when the posterior upright is bent until the gaps between the FRP sheets disappear, the FRP sheets come into contact with each other and the rigidity is increased, and the posterior upright does not bend any further. Therefore, the posterior upright bends to some extent with respect to tilting of a shin part of a wearer in a front-rear direction, and can follow a relative displacement between a foot portion and a shin portion to some extent during walking of the wearer. Further, since the rigidity is secured in a twisting direction, the footrest portion does not shift to the left or right during walking. Therefore, the wearer can move his or her foot well.
Furthermore, by inserting a rigid sheet into the gap between the FRP sheets, it is possible to adjust the degree of bending deformation of the posterior upright itself according to the wearer.
As described in claim 2, the lower end portion is preferably provided with a screw hole so as to be screwed to a heel posterior portion of the footrest portion.
In this way, the lower end portion can be screwed to the heel posterior portion of the footrest portion with a screw through the screw hole, which simplifies manufacture.
As described in claim 3, the upper end portion is preferably provided with a screw hole so as to be screwed to the lower leg mounting portion.
In this way, the upper end portion can be screwed to the lower leg mounting portion with a screw through the screw hole, which simplifies manufacture.
As described in claim 4, the screw holes so as to be screwed are arranged vertically, the screw holes being an upper hole and a lower hole through which a screw is inserted when the screw is attached, and the upper hole is preferably an arc-shaped long hole around the lower hole.
In this way, it is possible to attach the footrest portion and the lower leg mounting portion to the posterior upright by adjusting the orientation of the footrest portion and the lower leg mounting portion.
As described in claim 5, each of the FRP sheets is preferably a CFRP sheet.
In this way, necessary strength is ensured.
As described in claim 6, the lower end portion preferably has a flat plate shape or a bifurcated shape whose lower end is divided.
In this way, the lower end portion is firmly connected to the heel posterior portion of the footrest portion.
The invention according to claim 7 is directed to an ankle foot orthosis including a footrest portion on which a foot portion is placed, a lower leg mounting portion mounted on a lower leg portion below a knee, and a posterior upright that is provided between the lower leg mounting portion and the footrest portion and extends upward from a heel posterior portion to be connected to the lower leg mounting portion, in which the posterior upright is the posterior upright according to any one of claims 1 to 6.
In this way, the posterior upright bends to some extent with respect to tilting of a shin part of a wearer in a front-rear direction, and can follow a relative displacement between a foot portion and a shin portion during walking of the wearer. Further, since the rigidity is secured in a twisting direction, the footrest portion does not shift to the left or right during walking. Therefore, the wearer can move his or her foot well. Furthermore, by inserting a rigid sheet into the gap between the FRP sheets, it is possible to adjust the degree of bending deformation of the posterior upright itself according to the wearer.
As described in claim 8, a wedge-shaped block is configured to be sandwiched between a screwing portion of the posterior upright and the footrest portion or the lower leg mounting portion.
In this way, attaching angles of the footrest portion and the lower leg mounting portion can be adjusted by sandwiching the wedge-shaped block.
According to the present invention, when the posterior upright is bent until the gaps between the FRP sheets disappear, the FRP sheets come in contact with each other to increase the rigidity, and the posterior upright does not bend any further. Accordingly, the posterior upright bends to some extent with respect to tilting of a shin part of a wearer in a front-rear direction, and can follow a relative displacement between the foot portion and the shin portion to some extent during waling of the wearer. Further, since the rigidity is secured in a twisting direction, the footrest portion does not shift to the left or right during walking. Therefore, the wearer can move his or her foot well.
Furthermore, by inserting a rigid sheet into the gap between the FRP sheets, it is possible to adjust the degree of bending deformation of the posterior upright itself according to the wearer.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in
The posterior upright 4 has a laminated structure in which three FRP sheets 5a, 5b and 5c are laminated. Upper portions and lower portions of the FRP sheets 5a to 5c are joined by heat sealing to be integrated, and constitute an upper end portion 4A and a lower end portion 4B having a flat plate shape. Here, as the FRP sheets 5a to 5c, carbon fiber reinforced plastic sheets (CFRP sheets) are used.
Then, an intermediate portion between the upper end portion 4A and the lower end portion 4B is not heat-sealed, and has gaps S1 and S2 between the FRP sheets 5a to 5c in a state where no load is applied.
The upper end portion 4A is a portion connected to the lower leg mounting portion 3 and the lower end portion 4B is connected to the heel posterior portion of the footrest portion 2 by screwing.
The upper end portion 4A and the lower end portion 4B are provided with upper holes 4Aa and 4Ba and lower holes 4Ab and 4Bb as screw holes so as to be screwed to the lower leg mounting portion 3 and the heel posterior portion of the footrest portion 2 with screws 6. That is, the screw holes are arranged vertically, and the lower leg mounting portion 3 and the footrest portion 2 are attached by the screws 6 that are inserted through the upper holes 4Aa and 4Ba and the lower holes 4Ab and 4Bb when the screw is attached.
The upper holes 4Aa and 4Ba are arc-shaped long holes around the lower holes 4Ab and 4Bb, which allow the lower leg mounting portion 3 and the footrest portion 2 to be attached to the posterior upright 4 by adjusting the orientation of the lower leg mounting portion 3 and the footrest portion 2. The orientation can be adjusted within a range in which the long holes 4Aa and 4Ba extend.
If the ankle foot orthosis 1 having the posterior upright 4 as described above is mounted, when the posterior upright 4 bends until the gaps S1 and S2 between the FRP sheets 5a to 5c disappear, the FRP sheets come in contact with each other to become integrated and rigidity is increased, and the posterior upright 4 does not bend any further. As a result, the posterior upright 4 bends to some extent with respect to tilting of a shin part of the wearer in a front-rear direction, and can follow a relative displacement between a foot portion and a shin portion during walking of the wearer. In this manner, the wearer can perform a plantar flexion motion and a dorsal flexion motion of an ankle. Further, since rigidity is secured in a twisting direction, the footrest portion 2 does not shift to the left or right during walking. Therefore, the wearer can move his or her foot well.
Further, in a case where rigidity is desirably increased by reducing the degree of bending deformation, a rigid sheet U (see a two-dot chain line in
In this manner, by inserting the rigid sheet U, it is possible to adjust rigidity of the posterior upright 4 according to the walking ability of the wearer, so that the wearer can move his or her foot well. Furthermore, the adjustment of the rigidity of the posterior upright 4, which can be performed only by inserting and pulling out the rigid sheet, is simple and can be performed in a short period of time.
Although the upper end portion 4A and the lower end portion 4B of the posterior upright 4 are screwed to the lower leg mounting portion 3 and the footrest portion 2 in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, as shown in
Further, as shown in
Furthermore, as shown in
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2018/046078 | 12/14/2018 | WO | 00 |
