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Exercise machine and method for exercising the musculature of a limb that can be carried out through such a machineRelated Patent Categories: Exercise Devices, User Manipulated Force Resisting Apparatus, Component Thereof, Or Accessory Therefor, Utilizing Inertial Force ResistanceExercise machine and method for exercising the musculature of a limb that can be carried out through such a machine description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20050272575, Exercise machine and method for exercising the musculature of a limb that can be carried out through such a machine. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
[0001] The present invention refers to an exercise machine. In particular, the invention refers to an exercise machine suitable for strengthening the musculature of the lower or upper limbs, which has a preferred although not exclusive use for the rehabilitation of users who have suffered traumas or undergone operations to such limbs. In such events and, more generally, in the field of exercise, there is a known need to restore or increase the mass and tone of the musculature of the limbs, so as to recover their functionality as completely and quickly as possible in the case of a trauma or to increase the muscle mass and tone in the desired way. [0002] Generally, it is sought to satisfy this requirement through muscle rehabilitation and strengthening exercises, often carried out with the help of exercise tools or machines in order to make the rehabilitation more targeted and/or effective. [0003] For example, in the specific case of the lower limbs, the hypotrophy and hyposthenia of the quadriceps muscle are a constant occurrence after traumas or operations to the knee and it is necessary to counteract the loss of strength of the muscle with suitable rehabilitation exercises, so as to re-establish the correct working order of the limb involved and, therefore, the motor and walking capabilities of the patient. [0004] Two main types of exercises are known. A first type of exercises, generally indicated with the term: open kinetic chain exercises, provides that, during the movement, the involved limb is subjected to a resisting force and the end (hand/foot) thereof is free to move in space. In this type of exercises, each extension and bending of the limb stimulates essentially only the agonist muscles, without involving the corresponding antagonist muscles. These exercises are therefore very effective for strength recovery by the agonist muscles, since they substantially isolate the operation thereof, but may give rise to an undesired side effect, in this case related to potentially harmful stresses at the joints, above all in a rehabilitation step. A second type of exercises, generally indicated with the term: closed kinetic chain exercises, provides that, during the movement, the involved limb is subjected to a resisting force, while the end (hand/foot) thereof is unmovable or only able to move with great difficulty. In this type of exercises each extension and bending of the limb stimulates both the agonist muscles and the antagonist muscles. The combined and simultaneous operation of the two muscle groups allows a greater stability of the joints to be ensured during exercise, limiting the occurrence of the aforementioned stresses; on the other hand, the strengthening action of the agonist muscles is less effective with respect to open kinetic chain exercises. [0005] In the case, for example, of the lower limbs, typical open kinetic chain and closed kinetic chain exercises are, respectively, the so-called "leg extension", which provides that the legs are alternately extended and bent under the action of a resisting force, having a direction substantially coinciding with the direction of the thrusting force of the user, thus involving the knee joint only, and the so-called "squat", which provides that one's feet are kept on the ground and the legs are bent and extended, respectively lowering and raising the pelvis and upper trunk under the action of weights of a suitable size, thus involving the knee, hip and ankle joints together. [0006] The leg extension exercise substantially stimulates just the quadriceps muscle and therefore is very effective for strengthening such a muscle; however, whilst it is carried out, tangential forces develop that tend to make the tibial plate translate forwards, consequently stressing knee structures, as the anterior cruciate ligament and the medial meniscus. Considering limb rotation angles measured starting from the limb in completely extended state (corresponding to a rotation of 0.degree.), the aforementioned forces causing forward translation of the tibia arise for leg rotation angles between 0.degree. and 60.degree.. For these reasons, in rehabilitation after the anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction it is common practice not to use the leg extension exercise in the first weeks after the operation and in any case to avoid reaching rotation angles of between 0.degree. and 30.degree. even at a later stage. Therefore, this does not allow the advantages offered by such an exercise in terms of exercising the quadriceps to be exploited at an early stage. [0007] On the contrary, whilst doing squats the quadriceps work together with the antagonist muscles and therefore they can be strengthened to a lesser degree; however, the combined action of the two groups of muscles, together with the femural-tibial compression forces that naturally occur at the knee during this exercise thanks to the upright posture, allows a greater stability of the knee to be achieved and, therefore, the drawbacks and risks outlined in relation to open kinetic chain exercises to be reduced. [0008] Despite the possible undesired side effects of open kinetic chain exercises, highlighted in numerous scientific studies, this type of exercises holds a substantial importance in the functional recovery of traumatised limbs. In the case of the lower limbs, it has for example been demonstrated that a muscle recovery programme based exclusively on closed kinetic chain exercises does not allow an optimal recovery of the quadriceps strength (Mikkelsen C., Werner S., Eriksson E., Close kinetic chain alone compared to combined open and close kinetic chain exercise for quadriceps strengthening after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with respect to return to sport: a prospective matched follow-up study, Knee Surg. Sports Traumatol. Arthrosc. 2000, 8(6): 337-342). [0009] The technical problem underlying the present invention is therefore that of providing an exercise machine for strengthening the musculature of the lower or upper limbs, which allows an open kinetic chain exercise to be carried out with isolation of the agonist muscles involved and simultaneously allows the transversal stresses occurring at the involved joints to be minimised, so as to avoid the undesired side effects outlined above in relation to such a type of exercise. [0010] According to a first aspect thereof, the invention therefore refers to an exercise machine comprising: [0011] a frame adapted to support said machine with respect to a supporting surface; [0012] at least one arm hinged to said frame and comprising, at a distal end thereof, at least one engagement element for an end of a user's limb, said at least one engagement element being adapted to describe a substantially curvilinear trajectory during the movement of said arm; [0013] an applicator device of a resisting force to said arm, [0014] which is characterised in that said at least one engagement element is fixed to a carriage slidably associated with said arm along a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the arm, and in that said applicator device is associated with said carriage so as to apply a resisting force to the arm acting along a direction of application angularly staggered with respect to a plane locally tangent to said substantially curvilinear trajectory for at least a portion of said trajectory. [0015] Within the framework of the present description and of the subsequent claims, the expression: slidably associated, is used to indicate that the carriage is slidably mounted inside and/or outside said arm. [0016] Thanks to such a combination of features, the exercise machine of the invention allows t transversal stresses acting on the involved joint to be substantially reduced to zero by applying a resisting force to the arm that has a first non-zero component along a direction locally tangent to the trajectory followed by the arm, and a second non-zero component along a direction substantially perpendicular to the plane locally tangent to such a trajectory, i.e. along a direction passing through the centre of rotation of the arm. In the following description, such components shall be indicated with the terms: tangential component and radial component, respectively. [0017] The tangential component of the resisting force counteracts the thrusting force applied by the user on the engagement element like in conventional open kinetic chain exercises, whereas the radial component acts substantially along the longitudinal axis of the arm, i.e. of the limb involved in the exercise, to which it is transferred thanks to the sliding of the carriage carrying the engagement element. The resolution of the resisting force along the two aforementioned directions is not fixed, but rather varies as the angular position assumed by the arm whilst the exercise is carried out varies, since the angle formed by the resisting force with respect to the plane locally tangent to the trajectory correspondingly varies. [0018] The exercise machine of the invention substantially operates in the same way as an exercise machine for performing open kinetic chain exercises, for example leg extensions, thus allowing the typical advantages of such exercises to be obtained in terms of strengthening of the agonist muscles, and, at the same time, advantageously allows the undesired side effects outlined above to be avoided, thanks to the action of the radial component of the resisting force applied to the arm. [0019] In particular, in the case of the lower limbs the radial component shall preferably be of the centripetal type, so as to apply a compression on the limb; such a compression acts on the knee joint increasing its stability and limiting the occurrence of tangential forces causing forward translation of the tibial plate. [0020] Of course, the acting sense of the radial component of the resisting force applied to the arm can be of the opposite type, i.e. centrifugal, should it be desirable or advantageous to stress the joint (like for example in the case of the shoulder) by applying a traction onto it instead of a compression. The acting sense of the radial component is defined by the direction and sense of application of the resisting force to the carriage. [0021] Preferably, the applicator device of the resisting force comprises at least one flexible transmission element extended between the carriage and a generator of the resisting force. [0022] Such a transmission element, for example a belt, allows the desired resisting force to be applied to the carriage and allows the movement thereof to be easily followed whilst the exercises are carried out. [0023] The exercise machine of the invention preferably also comprises angular adjusting means of the direction of application of the resisting force with respect to the plane locally tangent to the curvilinear trajectory. Such adjusting means advantageously allow the direction of application of the resisting force as naturally defined by a generic angular position of the arm to be modified; this in turn determines a different resolution of the resisting force into its components locally tangential and locally radial to the curvilinear trajectory and therefore, in particular, a different intensity of the longitudinal force acting on the user's limb. This possibility is particularly useful for adapting the exercise machine operation to the requirements of different users or else, for the same user, to the different steps of an exercise or rehabilitation programme. For example, in the case of the rehabilitation of users that have suffered traumas or undergone operations to the knee joint, it is possible to use such angular adjusting means to apply a relatively high longitudinal compression force on the lower limb to increase the stability thereof during the first steps of the rehabilitation programme, in which the joint is weaker, and then gradually decrease such a force as the joint recovers functionality. [0024] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the angular adjusting means comprise at least one deviator element slidably mounted in the frame and acting on the flexible transmission element to deviate the path thereof. Such a solution advantageously constitutes a simple and easily reversible way to adjust the direction of application of the resisting force without modifying the structure of the applicator device. 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