Exercise devices – Sit up device
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-29
2004-08-17
Lucchesi, Nicholas D. (Department: 3764)
Exercise devices
Sit up device
C482S142000, C482S148000, C482S907000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06776743
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatuses for strengthening and rehabilitating the waist including the lumbar vertebrae and the lumbar muscles, and more particularly to a waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus and load controller used in conjunction with the apparatus to produce desired load by controlling the flow direction and amount of working fluid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, around the waist region, the pelvis is connected to the vertebrae and two hip joints are connected to the pelvis. Various lumbar muscles are connected to both pelvis and vertebrae, so that the pelvis can conduct movement relative to the vertebrae.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,112 discloses one of conventional waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatuses that are used to strengthen or rehabilitate the waist.
However, the conventional waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus has a problem in a user's performing bending exercises in which the user sits up upright from a position where the waist is bent while the lower part of his body is firmly held by a thigh holding belt, as described below.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, the lower part of the body including the pelvis
1
is tightly held by the conventional apparatus in such a way that the knee
4
is raised up by a footrest
10
pushing the feet and the center portion of the thigh
3
is tied around a seat plate
12
by a belt
11
to bring the pelvis
1
into contact with the seat plate
12
. However, in accordance with the conventional apparatus, only the femur
7
is tightly held by the belt
11
, while the pelvis
1
is movable forward and rearward.
In more detail, in the conventional waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus, the knee
4
is raised up by elevating the footrest
10
from a position where the rear portion of the pelvis
1
is supported by a pelvis support
13
, the feet
6
rest on the footrest
10
and a knee support
14
is situated at a proper height. As a result, the knee
4
is brought into contact with the knee support
14
, but the lower portion of the thigh
3
becomes spaced apart from the seat plate
12
. In this state, the center portion of the thigh
3
is tightly tied by the wide belt
11
to bring the pelvis
1
into contact with the seat plate
12
.
When the center portion of the thigh is downwardly pushed by the belt
11
, the waist seems to be tightly held by the conventional strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus, since the pelvis
1
is brought into contact with the seat plate
1
and the rear portion of the pelvis
1
is supported by the pelvis support
13
. However, only the femur
7
is tightly held by the belt
11
and the pelvis
1
is movable forward and rearward, so that the pelvis
1
can be rotated around the hip joint
2
, thus causing the lower part of the body to be somewhat freely movable.
Additionally, the rear portion of the pelvis
1
seems to be supported by the pelvis support
13
, but shock absorbing space exists between the rear portion of the pelvis
1
and the pelvis support
13
. Accordingly, this cannot be called a safe holding from the medical point of view.
When the center portion of the thigh
3
is tightly held by the belt
11
with the knee raised up by the footrest
10
pushing the feet
6
, the pelvis
1
is brought into tight contact with the seat plate
12
, but space is created between the thigh
3
and the seat plate
12
. The space allows the thigh
3
to be moved, so that the thigh
3
is not tightly held by the apparatus.
In practice, when a user performs bending exercises in which he sits up straight from a position where the waist is bent, force resulting from the bending exercises is transmitted to feet through the pelvis
1
, the femur
7
and the calf
5
. The force exerted on the footrest
10
is increased in proportion to the force applied by a user. The sequential transmission of the reaction proceeding from the pelvis
1
to the feet
6
means that the bones and joints ranging from the pelvis
1
to the feet
6
are not properly held by the apparatus.
Though the waist seems to be tightly held by the conventional waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus because feet are laid on the footrest
10
and the buttocks is supported by the pelvis support
13
, shock absorbing space exists between the pelvis
1
and the pelvis support
13
. Consequently, the pelvis
1
should be moved rearward till the pelvis
1
is brought into tight contact with the pelvis support
13
, and the belt is tightened correspondingly.
The belt
11
is tightened to the center portion of the thigh
3
. As a result, it is difficult for the pelvis
1
to be brought into contact with the seat plate
12
and a user may experience pain in his thigh caused by the tightening of the belt
11
so as to bring the pelvis
1
into the seat plate
12
.
When a user performs bending exercises in which he sits up straight from a position where the waist is bent, force exerted on the footrest
10
and the tightness of the belt
11
are increased in proportion to force applied by the user. These prove that the waist is not held properly.
The holding of the lower part of the body should be performed so as to suppress the movement of the lower part, since force resulting from the bending exercises of the upper part of the body is exerted to the lower part, causing the lower part to move. However, the conventional waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus does not prevent the lower part from moving due to force resulting from the bending exercises of the upper part.
The lumbar vertebrae constituting the principal element of the waist consists of a plurality of vertebrae directly connected to one another without the aid of an additional support bone, and spinal nerves pass through the lumbar vertebrae, so that the lower part of the body including the pelvis should be tightly held during waist exercises. However, in the conventional waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus, the knees are held by a holding plate and the center portion of the thighs are tied to a seat by a belt, so that strengthening or rehabilitating effect is poor and accidents such as the fracture of a bone may occur in the case of the elderly and osteoporosis sufferers.
In addition, the conventional waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus has shortcomings in that it is difficult for a user to recognize the degree of tightness of the thigh holding belt and the thigh holding belt cannot be rapidly loosened in case of excessive tightening. When pain is excessive during strengthening or rehabilitation or preparation therefor, the thigh holding belt is not easily loosened, thereby causing a problem in safety.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus, which is capable of securely holding the lower part of the body, including the pelvis, by means of lower body holding means, momentarily loosening the lower part in an emergency and preventing accidents that may occur during excise.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus, which allows waist strengthening and rehabilitating exercise to be actively or passively conducted within a predetermined angle and allows a user to conduct bending, reflexion and twisting exercises.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a load controller, which is capable of easily controlling the quantity and direction of load, being simply constructed, being widely used, and being easily installed and utilized.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus, in which a support unit is constructed by assembling all or some of a footrest, a backrest, a pedestal, a handle and related frames, and waist exercises are c
Amerson L
Lucchesi Nicholas D.
Patton & Boggs LLP
LandOfFree
Waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus and load... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus and load..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Waist strengthening and rehabilitating apparatus and load... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3306209