Method and device to enable and assist the elderly and females to exercise their shin muscles

Abstract

This dorsal flex exercise machine is comprised of a static seat connected to the frame of the said machine. There is a foot-plate pivoted approximately under the position of the heel, when feet rest on the said foot-plate. The upholstered cylindrical lifting roller pads, one for each foot, are lifted by the upper side of the foot, lifting the said roller pads simultaneously. The said roller pads are adjustable vertically to fit the range of peoples' feet and shoe sizes. The dorsal flex exercise machine exercises the shin muscles otherwise known as the tibialis anterior muscles. The movement performed by use of this exercise machine is called the dorsal flex. At least one hand bar is positioned to aid entry to and exit from the machine and to stabilize the user while exercising.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is in the field of exercise resistance machines for improvement of general heath, especially strengthening the shin muscles known in Latin as tibialis anterior. These muscles control the ability to walk with stability and when strong they prevent foot drag and thereby help to reduce falls. The exercising provides physiotherapeutic effects to strengthen, build and rebuild muscles and bone mass and prevents muscle and bone mass deterioration. This patent relates to and caters for the special needs of the elderly, those convalescing from injury or surgery and females.

BACKGROUND of the INVENTION

The use of machines for exercising the body is well known in the art. For many decades it has been considered beneficial for a person's health to exercise regularly. The benefits are many and probably some that we are not yet aware. A few of the better known benefits are to the functioning of the heart, the blood vessels, the blood cells, the muscles, the bone structure, the functioning of the brain, the levels of cholesterol and blood sugars, and the general feeling of well-being. There was a time when it was felt to be not so beneficial for the elderly to exercise but now it is considered also very beneficial. Obviously, the degree of stress on the body and length of time of such exercise varies from person to person depending on age, general health and any specific disabilities endured.

One of the factors that make it difficult for the elderly is their lack of agility. They often have pain when moving their various limbs. This discourages them from starting to exercise even though when they have exercised, usually they feel better than beforehand. If they avoid exercising then they do not enjoy the many side benefits of exercising and a vicious cycle is sometimes created whereby their health deteriorates generally. Most prior art exercise machines do not take into account the special needs of the elderly and therefore help to create this barrier. The machines are often cumbersome, sometimes complicated to operate, without easily understandable instructions, without handles to aid entering and exiting and without taking into account the sometimes frail and painful limbs of the elderly. They are basically designed for the young and middle aged.

The elderly either currently suffer from ailments that are best assisted by controlled exercise or are likely to suffer from such ailments if they do not exercise, for example, heart disease, weight control, walking stability, osteoporosis or lower back pains.

Daily activities, that a younger person performs automatically without realizing how many muscles and joints are involved, can be a major cause of pain and other discomforts throughout the day for the elderly or disabled. Examples of such daily activities are bending to tie shoes, getting in and out of the car or bath, walking up stairs or a hill, pushing a shopping cart, carrying groceries and simply stretching to reach items. These are but a few of the hundreds of activities that an elderly person has to do daily and without regular exercising and muscle strengthening these everyday activities become more difficult as the person ages.

Women are more prone than men to a bone disease called osteoporosis, usually from the age of menopause and older. One of the major recommended preventative measures for osteoporosis is regular exercising of the weight bearing kind in order to increase the bone mass. Furthermore, females more than males, require special features in exercise machines to cater for their more delicate body structures. Therefore, it would be preferable for the elderly, the disabled and those convalescing, to use exercise machines that are purpose built and user friendly for their specific needs. The apparatus of this invention is specifically and professionally designed for the special needs of this group of users. The innovation of this invention includes and/or takes into account amongst others, the following factors:

• • the user's general lack of agility and possibility of various pains when moving into position to start exercising, during the exercising and when exiting,
  • to give as much as possible clutter free access and a minimum of overhead apparatus to ease entry/exit and to avoid accidental injury to the user or a helper of the user,
  • a static seat.
  • the need for smaller gradations of weights so that the counter resistance effect can be gradually increased,
  • the proper placing of handles and bars to aid entering and leaving the machines and stabilizing handles to optionally hold while exercising,
  • notices and instructions written in clear language and large print,
    and many other features for the benefit of the infirm as are herein described in greater detail.

Prior art has addressed some aspects of the needs of older people. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,302 issued to Miller reveals a moveable exercise machine that can be brought to a chair ridden person to exercise. The novelty is more in the portability features than the use of the machine itself. US Patent Application No. 20040220019 issued to Maser reveal a special feature for older people namely that in a pedal machine both pedals can start at their lowest level instead of one up and one down. The Japanese Patent No. 2004016577 issued to Shigeo et al. reveals an exercise machine where the user can exercise in a recumbent position but the range of movements of the arms and legs is limited with no possibility of increasing or decreasing the stress to the arms or legs. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,419 issued to Rota showing how beneficial the rebounding type of exercise is for all aged users especially the elderly.

The uniqueness of this invention is the combination of all its various features into one device as are herein described.

After years of research the innovators of this invention have found solutions to the above mentioned problems generally and to the specific problems and needs of the elderly and infirm. The result is incorporated in the apparatus of this invention as hereinafter described. The result is a user friendly machine that the infirm will want to use because it answers their special needs. It will help them overcome that so important initial step of starting to exercise.

The commercial potential for such machines is great. Firstly the purchaser could be an end user of the exercise machine of this invention or an exercise club that also wishes to cater for the elderly, infirm or those recuperating from injury. Such exercise clubs will be able to attract more members and from a wider range of population. Exercise clubs for women only, will be able to offer machines user friendly for females. Old-age homes are likely purchasers of these machines, to improve the overall health of their members, to usefully occupy their time and to attract new members by showing quality facilities. Hotels often have exercise rooms and will want to provide quality facilities for their elderly customers. Hospitals or homes for rehabilitation after medical operations or accidents are another likely customer for such machines. Most of the features designed for older people will also assist people recouping from illness or operations. They will recover faster, reduce the number of visits to the physiotherapist and be happy that they are helping themselves to become independent and return to their normal routine.

The manufacturers of this invention will be catering for a market that is expanding rapidly both by the greater percentage of people living to older ages and the increasing awareness amongst all sectors of the population that regular exercising is a key to improved health. Health funds have already recognized how many millions of dollars they save each year when their members maintain a better standard of health. As a result these health funds often subsidize for their members, the membership fees of exercise clubs. All these factors will contribute to the commercial success of this invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description present embodiments of the invention, and are intended to provide an overview, or framework, for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention and, together with the description serve to explain the principles and operations of the invention.

An object of this invention is to provide a machine to exercise and thereby strengthen the shin muscles as well as maintain bone mass especially of the elderly, infirm and females. This muscle strengthening and bone mass maintenance will in turn help to improve balance, improve posture, increase ability to stand from the sitting position, enhance walking and reduce incidence of falls.

Another object of the invention is to strengthen the muscles called tibialis anterior.

Another object of the invention is to assist the exerciser to walk with increased stability.

Another object of this invention is to enhance a person's ability to balance and thereby reduce the chance of a fall.

Another object of this invention is to ease the access to and exit from the exercise machine for example so that there is no overhanging apparatus potentially capable of causing head or other injury and without sharp edges protruding from the apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to have at least one static hand support bar to increase the user's stability while using the machine and/or while entering or exiting.

Another object of this invention is for the said exercise machine to be stably resting on the ground when in use and optionally moveable when so desired.

Another object of the invention is to make instructions for the user simple to understand and written in large print in a color that contrasts with its background. It is also an object to make the said instructions readable while the user is in position on the exercise machine.

Another object of the invention is to have a picture on the body of the apparatus in a clearly visible position and color, illustrating an everyday task. This task the infirm often find difficult to carry out and is made easier by strengthening the specific muscles that the machine of this invention helps to strengthen. State of art exercise machines often mention on the machine the name of the muscles that will be strengthened by the machine or sometimes they have a picture of those muscles in a picture of a body. The user of an exercise machine will be able to relate much easier to a picture of the everyday task that will be enhanced by using the machine. It will give the user a greater incentive to work diligently at the said exercises.

One of the everyday tasks that is associated with this invention is walking with stability.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain, by way of example only, the principles of the invention:

FIG. A is a side sectional diagram of the essential parts of the exercise machine of this invention.

FIG. B is a back sectional diagram of the essential parts of the exercise machine of this invention.

FIG. C is a top sectional diagram of the essential parts of the exercise machine of this invention.

DESCRIPTION of the PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As will be appreciated the present invention is capable of other and different embodiments than those discussed above and described in more detail below, and its several details are capable of modifications in various aspects, all without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Accordingly, the drawings and description of the embodiments set forth below are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.

FIG. A shows the side view of this invention. The machine can be referred to as a dorsal flex exercise machine 100. Once in position on the seat 102 the user may wish to hold onto the static side handles 104 to stabilize himself while exercising.

The upholstered backrest 105 is angled backward at 75°±3° from the horizontal to give the maximum contra and support to the back of the user when using the exercise machine of this invention. The weights 106 are housed in the weight housing 108 and are stacked vertically. The cable 110 is attached to a bored pin-rod 112 at one end and to the foot-plate 120 at its other end at point 121. The cable 110 can be, alternatively, a belt or a chain. The bored pin-rod 112 has at least one hole corresponding to the number of weights 106. The weights 106 each have a hole in them passing horizontally from front to back. The pin 114 is inserted through one of the weights and into one of the holes in the bored pin-rod 112.

The user places both feet on the foot-plate 120 whereby the top surface of his feet rests immediately under the roller pads 122. The roller pads 122 are adjustably attached to a bar 128 which is parallel to the foot-plate 120. The exercise is to keep the heels on the foot-plate and make the front portion of the foot lift the upholstered roller pads 122. The more weights 106 there are above the pin 114 the harder it will be to lift the roller pad 122 as the pivotal point 130 is beyond the point 121 where the cable 110 is attached to the foot-plate 120. The pivot 130 is attached to the frame of the exercising machine 100 at point 132.

The position of the roller pads 122 is adjustable vertically with screw bolt 124 and horizontally with screw bolt 126. There is a counterweight 134 to counter the natural weight of the footplate 120 and surrounding apparatus, so that when the weights 106 indicate for example four kilograms the user will be lifting this weight and no more.

The dorsal flex exercising machine 100 could have lockable wheels 136 and 138 to help to transport the exercise machine 100 to the desired position before locking the wheels for stability during the exercising. At least one of the wheels would lift the exercise machine 100 off the ground for the purpose of movement and lower it to the ground level for complete stability while in use.

FIG. B is the top view of the dorsal flex exercise machine 100. The seat 102, stabilizing handles 104 and backrest 105 are attached to the exercise machine frame opposite the footplate 120 and weights housing 108. The roller pads 122 and their position adjusting knobs 124 and 126 are seen from the top view in their relative positions.

FIG. C shows the dorsal flex exercise machine 100 from the back view. The parts visible in this figure are the seat 105 attached to its angled support frame 101, its steadying handles 104 and the seat 102. The weight stack 108 is in front of the seat 102. The lockable wheels 136 and 138 are for greater mobility and are attached to the frame of the exercising machine 100.

Claims

1. An exercise machine comprising

a frame,

a seat with an angled back-rest,

a foot-plate attached pivotally to the said frame,

a roller pad attached to the said foot-plate by two bars perpendicular to each other, so that the said roller pad is situated above the said foot-plate,

adjustable selectorized resistance weights attached by a cable to the said foot-plate,

at least one static handle to aid stabilization,

whereby people generally and especially the elderly, the infirm and females can exercise their tibialis anterior muscles.

2. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said selectorized resistance weights are adjustable so that the number of weights used is proportional to the degree of resistance in small increments of not more than 0.5 kilogram.

3. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 2 wherein the said adjustability is in increments of at most 0.5 kilogram.

4. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 3 where the said degree of resistance is chosen by means of inserting a pin in a horizontal hole passing through the width of a chosen weight and into a bored pin-rod that is attached to a cable joining the said bored pin-rod to the said foot-plate whereby that weight and all the weights above it are lifted by the said connecting cable when the said foot bars are lifted.

5. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said weights are attached by means of a cable and pulleys to the said foot-plate at a point between the pivot point and the front end of the said foot-plate.

6. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 5 wherein the stack of weights and the said pin are reachable by the user of the said exercising machine from his exercising position.

7. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the position of the said roller pad is adjustable vertically.

8. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the position of the said roller pad is adjustable horizontally.

9. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said angled back-rest is at an angle of 75° from the horizontal, leaning backward.

10. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 9 wherein the said angled back-rest is at an angle of 75°±3° from the horizontal, leaning backward.

11. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 1 further comprising at least three wheels for transporting the machine where at least one wheel mechanism lifts the said exercise machine off the ground causing the weight of the said exercising machine to rest on the said wheel and of which at least one wheel is lockable thereby enabling the said exercise machine to rest firmly on the ground or optionally, be moved on the said wheels.

12. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the access to the said exercise machine is open and uncluttered thereby easing the entry to and exit from the said exercising machine by the elderly or infirm and easing the work of a helper of the said elderly or infirm.

13. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said stabilization is during entry to and exit from the said exercising machine as well as during the action of exercising.

14. An exercise machine comprising

a frame,

a seat with an angled back-rest, a foot-plate attached pivotally to the said frame,

a bar attached to the said foot-plate with two bars perpendicular to each other, so that the said roller pad is situated above the said foot-plate,

adjustable resistance weights attached by a cable to the said foot-plate,

instructions for use of the said exercising machine,

at least one picture of an everyday task that is enhanced by the use of the said exercising machine,

whereby people generally and especially the elderly,

the infirm and females can exercise their shin muscles.

15. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 14 wherein the said instructions are in large clear print well contrasted with the background of the said print being visible and readable by the user of the said exercise machine from the position of the user when ready to exercise.

16. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 14 wherein the said picture of an everyday task is affixed to the body of the said exercise machine in a position easily visible and designed to be easily understandable which task is being represented.

17. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 14 wherein the said everyday task is walking.

18. An exercise machine as claimed in claims 1 and 14 wherein the said cable is substituted by a belt or chain.

19. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said angled seat back-rest is at an angle of 75° from the horizontal, leaning backward.

20. An exercise machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said angled seat back-rest is at an angle of 75°±3° from the horizontal, leaning backward.