Exercise devices – User manipulated force resisting apparatus – component... – Utilizing resilient force resistance
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-18
2002-04-16
Donnelly, Jerome W. (Department: 3764)
Exercise devices
User manipulated force resisting apparatus, component...
Utilizing resilient force resistance
C482S124000, C602S013000, C128S845000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06371894
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a medical device for physical therapists, particularly for performing upper and lower extremity exercises for the physical rehabilitation of bed-bound patients. More particularly, the invention relates to a generally wedge shaped compressible article for allowing patients to perform exercises while lying down, most likely confined to their hospital bed, which will aid them in increasing upper and lower extremity strength which is essential for returning to standing and walking activities. The medical device is preferably disposable, in that the article should not be shared between patients.
BACKGROUND
In the acute and sub-acute rehabilitation setting, the patients may be very ill and often are confined to a hospital bed. This proves to be a very challenging situation from a therapeutic standpoint and limits a physical therapist to basic bedside exercises. In addition, physical therapists are limited by the amount of time due to the number of patients they see and resources that are available. Lack of time and resources coupled with the poor health of the patients in these settings can leave the patients at great risk for developing secondary complications such as pneumonia, muscle atrophy, decubiti, and osteoporosis due to inactivity or severely decreased activity. This type of situation normally requires that the patient recover from a very tenuous medical state before initiating aggressive physical therapy and typically requires a relatively lengthy period of hospitalization.
Initiating early physical therapy that can be performed in bed by the patient can permit the patient to begin strengthening all of the major upper and lower extremity muscle groups such as shoulder flexors, adductors and abductors; elbow extensors; hip and knee flexors and extensors; hip adductors and abductors; and ankle plantar flexors.
An early rehabilitation regimen can help to speed up the patient's recovery process and allow the patient to progress towards a more advanced exercise regimen when the patient's health is improved to the point where they no longer need to be confined to a bed.
At the present time, a patient in an acute or sub-acute setting may not often be afforded an opportunity to participate in one or more therapeutic exercise sessions on a regular daily basis due to lack of resources or a high patient to therapist ratio.
Physical therapists often work with critically ill patients in intensive care wards as well as the neurosugery and orthopedic wards. Many of these patients are severely ill, having sustained strokes, organ transplants, spinal cord injuries, head injuries, joint replacements and the like. Many of these patients cannot get out of bed for weeks, and in some instances for 2-3 months, without the maximal assistance of two-four healthcare providers. The job of the physical therapist is to find a way to help these patients exercise. In some cases, the patient's exercise consists of the physical therapist moving each limb and joint through a specific range of motion for the patient. Some patients show little or no progress even after weeks of this activity. Moreover, it is physically exhausting work for the patient and for the therapist. In other cases, some patients progress from the point where the therapist moves their limbs to the point where they can perform some resistance exercises to begin strengthening their muscles. However, for the therapist, this can be even more exhausting because the patients require an added resistance, which must be supplied by the therapist, in order to begin to increase muscle mass.
Exercising the upper extremities can be easier for the therapist because surgical tubing, or Theraband™, can be tied to the bed at different angles and patients can exercise most upper body muscles with supervision and minimal assistance from the therapist. However, the lower extremities are another issue. There is no easy way to assist bed-bound patients in strengthening their legs. The only way to assist these patients is by the therapist providing manual resistance. This allows the patient to perform lower body exercises but is inefficient, time consuming, exhausting for the therapist who must serve as the provider of the resistance. Typically, the standard of care is for the therapist to visit these inpatients twice a day. However, because of the large number of patients and the relatively small number of therapists, it can be impossible to provide quality therapeutic time to the sickest of patients, who unfortunately, are the patients that need and would benefit from these sessions the most.
In many instances, patients that require resistance exercises are still critically ill and cannot be moved from bed, except to sit in a chair by their bedside for 10-15 minutes two or three times a day. They still require maximal assistance from healthcare providers to move from their beds to chairs. However, movement and exercise is crucial for these patients. It has been documented that muscle tissue can begin to atrophy in even the healthiest of test subjects after just three days of bed rest. As a result, many such critically ill patients are very unhealthy regarding the deterioration of muscle tissue since they have been confided to bed for weeks or months. Additionally, static positioning for these patients can increase the risk of secondary complications such as infection, blood clots, bed sores, and pneumonia. This is why it is important to apply a means to allow very ill patients to exercise one or more times a day without the need for the direct personal or physical involvement of a therapist at each session.
Some common ways that therapists can provide a source for resistance are not very efficient and are not always popular with the other healthcare providers. Therapists sometimes use extra bed sheets, towels, and blankets to serve as a make-shift lower body gym. Placed under the knees, the patient could extend their knees to strengthen the anterior thigh muscles. Moving the linen around and positioning it properly with regard to the patient can also allow the patient to exercise some different muscle groups, but it often does not allow for quality sessions. For example, the sheets often do not hold up to the weight of the legs and would lose shape very quickly. Also, the nursing and logistics staffs may not appreciate the therapist using extra linen for such purposes because it would require a great deal of extra linen to support the therapeutic exercise efforts of all the patients in a rehabilitation hospital on a daily basis. However, the main deterrent is not the nursing or logistics staffs, but rather the lack of success with using linen material, which is not designed for such a purpose, and its limited availability.
Regarding upper and lower body exercises, some standard exercises are described hereinafter as examples and are not intended to be all inclusive. In regard to the upper body, an elbow extensor strengthening exercise requires the patient to apply pressure against a resistance with bent elbows in an effort to straighten the elbows.
Two common shoulder strengthening exercises are shoulder abductor and adductor exercises. Performing the shoulder abductor exercise requires the application of force or lifting the arm or shoulder away from the body in the frontal plane against a resistance. The shoulder adduction exercise is performed the same as the shoulder abductor, except it requires the application of force or moving the arm across the body. These upper body exercises most often require the therapist to serve as the resistance for the patient to push or move against.
A lower body exercise commonly used to strengthen a patient's hip and knee flexors and extensors involves having the patient bend his knees slightly and then to have some resistance applied to the bottom of his feet. The patient will then attempt to straighten his legs. As indicated above, the physical therapist can simply use her hands to push against the patient's feet in order to provide the resistanc
Buchanan Ingersoll P.C.
Donnelly Jerome W.
LandOfFree
Medical device for physical therapy treatment does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Medical device for physical therapy treatment, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Medical device for physical therapy treatment will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2912638