Surgery: kinesitherapy – Kinesitherapy – Device with applicator having specific movement
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-07
2004-12-21
Lucchesi, Nicholas D. (Department: 3764)
Surgery: kinesitherapy
Kinesitherapy
Device with applicator having specific movement
C601S100000, C601S101000, C601S102000, C601S103000, C601S116000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06832991
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a massaging apparatus.
BACKGROUND ART
In general, in a chair type massaging apparatus having a seat portion and a seatback portion and comprising a massaging unit provided on the seatback portion so as to move upward and downward, the transmitting mechanism comprises a pair of right and left supporting arms, a pair of right and left driving arms for transmitting power to the supporting arms, the supporting arm being connected to the driving arm at the midsection thereof, a first therapeutic member (the upper therapeutic member) provided on one end portion (upper end portion) of the supporting arm, a second therapeutic member (lower therapeutic member) provided on the other end portion (lower end portion) of the supporting arm, so that a power is transmitted to the first therapeutic member and the second therapeutic member through the driving arm and the supporting arm to make the first therapeutic member and the second therapeutic member perform massage by the kneading action and the rapping action (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.262263/1997).
Since this type of the massaging apparatus of the related art is not generally constructed to recognize the position of the specific portion of the human body such as shoulders or the hip of the user with respect to the massaging apparatus automatically, for example, when the user makes the massaging apparatus automatically perform shoulder massage or hip massage successively by selecting an automatic operation course, the user had to change the sitting position so that the therapeutic member of the supporting arm is placed exactly on the desired location of the human body, or to operate the controller manually for fine adjustment of the moving position of the massaging unit (supporting arm).
In case of stimulating pressure points, which is well on its way to becoming a boom recent years, it is necessary to pinpoint the positions of the pressure points from the specific portion of the human body, such as shoulder, to some extent (for example about ±1 cm). However, there is a problem in that accurate positioning of the therapeutic member of the massaging unit with respect to the pressure points is difficult and thus the effective stimulation of the pressure points cannot be performed, since the position of the specific portion of the human body such as shoulders of the user with respect to the massaging apparatus cannot be recognized automatically. For example, when performing kneading, rapping, and acupressure automatically for recovering from fatigue, it is necessary to massage the specific position called “tenchu”, points on the back of the head along the headline, a few centimeters away from the centerline, and to apply acupressure therapy to the positions called “haiyu”, the third intercostal portions outsides of the columna vertebralis, and “kakuyu”, the seventh intercostals portions outsides of the columna vertebralis, it could not place the massaging member exactly on these pressure points.
There is also a massaging apparatus with an automatic massaging function that performs massaging motion according to the preset program while successively changing operating modes, operating positions, and operating time periods of the therapeutic member, comprising a massaging unit that makes the therapeutic member perform rapping motion or kneading motion or the like by the rotating power of the motor and is provided in the seatback portion, wherein the vertical distribution of the pressure applied to the therapeutic member from the human body is obtained by moving the therapeutic member upward and downward while maintaining the extent of projection of the therapeutic member toward the human body to determine the position of shoulders therefrom (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.190012/1994).
However, the detection of the pressure in this case is performed by detecting the displacement of the spring that is compressed by a reaction force generated when the therapeutic member presses the human body from the back via an arm or the like, or by detecting the pressure applied to the therapeutic member from the human body by mechanical displacement, and thus it is difficult to detect a slight change in pressure applied to the therapeutic member from the human body. As a consequent, the positions of the shoulders and the hip of the user cannot be determined accurately, and it is difficult to place the position of the therapeutic member exactly on the pressure points of the body, and thus effective massaging cannot be performed in case where it is desired to apply acupressure therapy to the pressure points suitable to the symptom successively and automatically.
In addition, there is recognized another problem in that an arm for transmitting a reaction force applied when the therapeutic member presses the human body from the back, a spring for receiving a reaction force from the massaging member, and a spring holding mechanism for holding the spring are additionally required in order to detect the pressure that is applied to the therapeutic member by the human body by mechanical displacement thereof, whereby complicating the construction of the pressure detection mechanism.
With the problems described above in view, the present invention provides a massaging apparatus that can determine the specific portion of the user's body such as shoulders with respect to the massaging apparatus automatically and accurately in a simple construction.
In the related art, there is a known chair type massaging apparatus comprising a massaging mechanism that is movable upward and downward with respect to the seatback of the seat, in which the therapeutic members are provided in this massaging mechanism to perform massage such as kneading or rapping for the neck, shoulders, back, or hip of the user.
A massaging apparatus comprising an automatic therapeutic function having a program of motion or action of the therapeutic member stored in advance to automatically carry out a series of massaging motion according to the stored program (a series of action such as kneading or rapping), and comprising a mechanism that can automatically change the vertical position at which the therapeutic member performs massaging motion according to the seated height of the user prior to perform automatic therapy is also known.
For example, the chair type massaging apparatus as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication No.2511451 is operated in such a manner that the therapeutic member is moved once to the uppermost position and then moved downward to the position where it abuts to the shoulder of the user, where the shoulder position is recognized by a signal detected by the pressure sensor integrated in the therapeutic member and set as a point of origin of massaging motion prior to perform automatic therapy. Then, a series of massaging motion programmed upward or downward is performed successively with the point of origin regarded as a reference point.
Therefore, this massaging apparatus can detect the shoulder position of the user automatically and perform massaging motion according to the physique of the user without troublesome operation such as manually adjusting the position of the therapeutic member to match with the body of the user or entering data such as user's height or the seated height.
Normally, when using the chair type massaging machine, massaging motion is started by operating the switch provided on the armrest or the like immediately after sitting on the seat. However, immediately after sitting on the seat, the user is in many cases in an unstable state such that he/she is not a seated deep enough or the his/her back is not completely fitted with the seatback portion, or his/her back is bent and thus disturbed to take a proper posture due to action to operate the operating switch.
On the other hand, in the chair type massaging machine of the related art, since the therapeutic member may be kept in “stored” state in which it is saved to the uppermost position (higher position than the
Fujii Yasuo
Goto Koji
Inada Nichimu
Kondo Hideshi
Family Kabushiki Kaisha
Lucchesi Nicholas D.
Thanh Quang
LandOfFree
Massaging apparatus having pivotally supported supporting... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Massaging apparatus having pivotally supported supporting..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Massaging apparatus having pivotally supported supporting... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3274198