Undertaking
Patent
1989-11-21
1991-09-03
Bahr, Robert
Undertaking
272117, A63B 2308
Patent
active
050446282
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a machine for the therapeutic treatment of lumbago and lumbago/sciatica.
2. Background Art
It is known that most instances of lumbago and lumbago/sciatica are generally attributed to an incorrect postural position, characterized by excessive forward tilting of the pelvis. This latter phenomenon, together with the lumbar hyperlordosis resulting therefrom, leads to the painful symptoms typical of these disorders, which are a consequence of the disk degeneration process occurring most frequently in the region of the L5-S1 interspace. The period of time which passes between an incorrect postural position being adopted and the onset of the painful symptoms must be measured in years, if not in tens of years.
The therapeutic procedures which are currently adopted are of a pharmacological, physiotherapeutic and kinesitherapeutic nature. In this respect, mention may be made, in particular, of non-steroidal and steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, superficial and deep heat sources and massagetherapy. As regards kinesitherapy, various indications aimed at relieving the spine are usually associated with exercises designed to strengthen the muscles used in backward tilting of the pelvis. The highly variable nature of the results obtained using these methods gives one the distinct impression that the root of the problem is not being dealt with.
Moreover, it has been asserted that, from a physiological point of view, forward tilting of the pelvis can be adequately controlled not so much through general strenghtening of the muscles able to ensure backward tilting of the same, but more through the restoration of correct synergic functioning of some muscle groups over particular muscle lengths. In the specific case of lumbago and lumbago/sciatica, the muscle groups involved are essentially the ischiotibial muscles. This view has been proved correct by a long series of clinical experiments conducted by the Applicant and based, from a theoretical point of view, on specific neurological literature on the subject, of which the following is mentioned: forearm movements in man; II) Rapid forearm flexion in man; Neuroscience 5, 81-90 and 91-95; position sense; interpretation of kinaesthetic illusion; Biological Cybernetics, 42, 205-214; underlying joint position sense; empirical and theoretical approaches; Journal of Motor Behavior, 14, 174-193; naturally developing systems; in J. A.-Scott Kelso and Jane E. Clark (ed.), The development of movement control and coordination, New York, Whiley; hypothesis (.lambda. model) for motor control; Journal of Motor Behaviour, 18, Number 1, 27-54.
In substance, it has been ascertained that suitable stimulation, in the sense defined further below, of specific muscular groups together with a perceptual exercise, in the absence of visual information, involving the physical parameters associated with this stimulation, leads to rapid restoration of the correct functioning of these muscle groups and hence, in the specific case of the ischio-tibial muscles, to improved control of forward tilting of the pelvis. Here and in the remainder of the present description, "stimulation" is understood as meaning a therapeutic manipulation of the mathematical/topological space complex involving the variables of: muscle length, muscular tension, rate of change in the muscle length.
Such a method has already been used with success by the Applicant in the rehabilitation of paralysed patients and in particular in the rehabilitation of one limb of hemiplegic patients, so as to restore the motor functions affected by lesions of the central nervous system, both of a vascular and traumatic nature. A machine has been developed for this purpose, by means of which the patient undergoes a therapeutic exercise consisting in the stimulation of certain muscle groups and the patient being asked to perform a perceptual activity aimed at assessing, for example, the degree of passive movement to which the limb is subjected or providing a comparison with the stimulation
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Bracci Riccardo
Catelani Guglielmina
Fantozzi Massimo
Grimaldi Luigi
Lippi Paolo
Bahr Robert
T.E.K. S.r.l.
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