GB2083361A - Improvements in or relating to apparatuses for ankle reflex treatment - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for ankle reflex treatment, comprises a housing for receiving a foot and ankle of a patient and containing a footplate (7) provided with a drive for oscillating the footplate (7) simultaneously about a first axis substantially perpendicular to the footplate and about a second axis extending generally transversely of the footplate, there being provided in the housing means (8, 9) for massaging the ankle and means for cooling and ankle. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to apparatuses for ankle reflex treatment The present invention relates to an apparatus for ankle reflex treatment. Such an apparatus may be used to speed up the recovery from a sprained ankle.

According to the invention, there is provided an apparatus for ankle reflex treatment, comprising a housing for receiving a foot and ankle of a patient and containing a footplate provided with a drive for oscillating the footplate simultaneously about a first axis substantially perpendicular to the footplate and about a second axis extending generally transversely of the footplate, thereby being provided in the housing means for massaging the ankle and means for cooling the ankle.

Preferably, the cooling means comprises a Freon-charged loop provided with a compressor. The Freon-charged loop may be of the compact type generally used for freezing ice cream, as such loops are capable of very effective cooling. The housing, which may be of a fibre-reinforced plastics moulding such as a glass-reinforced plastics moulding or a "fibreglass" moulding, thus need not be provided with lagging as the cooling means is capable of reducing the temperature of the patient's foot and ankle to 10"C or even 5 C from its normal temperature of approximately 25"C when naked in a treatment room. The compressor need not be very powerful to achieve such cooling and can be driven by an electric motor powered from the AC mains.

Such an arrangement is capable of providing the necessary cooling when the patient wears a cotton or polythene sock so as to keep the apparatus clean.

The massaging means preferably comprises front and rear massage units arranged to massage the front and rear, respectively, of the patient's ankle when the apparatus is in use. Each massage unit may comprise a massage head on a pivotally mounted lever biassed to urge the massage head against the patient's ankle. The levers may be biassed with respect to each other so as to compensate for different positions of the ankle in the housing. Pressures of 5 and 7+ kg/sq.cm have proved suitable.

Each of the massage heads preferably comprises a rotatable shaft provided with a drive and connected to a plurality of eccentrically disposed idler rollers. The rollers of the front massage unit may have concave curved surfaces, and the rollers of the rear massage unit may have convex curved surfaces. The rollers are preferably made of conforming rubber, which may be a synthetic rubber. The drive may comprise an electric motor having a transmission for driving the shafts of both the massage heads.

Preferably, the housing has a hinged portion which can be opened to allow a patient's foot and ankle to be inserted. The hinged portion may be linked to the massage units so as to retract these for insertion of the foot and ankle.

The footplate drive is arranged to drive the footplate such that the toes of a patient whose foot is resting on the footplate describe a substantially eliptical path. The combination of this movement with the cooling and massaging has been found to be very effective in speeding up the recovery of sprained ankles.

Further, the apparatus provides a consistent treatment over relatively long treatment times where a physiotherapist attempting to emulate such treatment would tire and be less effective.

The invention will be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an ankle reflex treatment apparatus constituting a preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a side view showing part of the apparatus in Fig. 1; Figure 3 shows two half sections of the apparatus taken on iines A-A and B-B of Fig.

2; Figure 4 is side view showing another part of the apparatus of Fig. 1; and Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line C-C of Fig. 4.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the exterior of an ankle reflex treatment apparatus. The apparatus comprises a housing 1 mounted on castors (not shown) provided with brakes to allow the apparatus to be moved to the site where it is to be used and then to be held stationary during use. The housing 1 has a sloping front panel 2 on which are provided various controls for operating the apparatus. A lower portion 3 of the front panel has a hinged part 4 which, together with a fixed portion 5 standing proud of the portion 3, defines an opening. The hinged part 4 can be hinged forwardly and upwardly so as to allow the foot and ankle of a patient to be inserted into the apparatus. The hinged part 4 is then swung down again and locked in the position shown in Fig. 1, the opening being sufficiently large to accommodate the lower portion of the leg of the patient.

Fig. 2 is a side view of a part of the apparatus disposed within the housing 1. The part of the apparatus shown in this figure comprises a massaging unit for massaging the ankle of a patient, whose foot and ankle are shown at 6. The lefthand side of Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of half of the apparatus taken on line A-A of Fig. 2, whereas the righthand side of Fig.3 is a cross-sectional view of half of the apparatus taken on the line B-B of Fig. 2. The foot 6 of the patient rests on a foot-plate 7, which is pivotable about two axes as described hereinafter, the limit positions of the pivotal motion of the footplate about one of the axes being shown at 7a and 7b in Fig. 2. Fig. 3 shows at 7c one of the limit positions of swing of the foot-plate 7 for movement thereof during treatment.

The massaging arrangement comprises front and rear massaging units 8 and 9, respectively. Each massage unit comprises a pair of levers 10 fixed to shafts 11 which are pivotally mounted to opposite frame members 12 of the apparatus. Each of the shafts 11 has fixed to one of its ends a further lever 1 3.

Each of the levers 1 3 has at one of its ends a plurality of holes 14 spaced longitudinally of the lever. A telescopic member 1 5 containing a compression spring is connected at its ends to the levers 13 by means of bolts 16. The lever 1 3 of the rear massage unit 9 is arranged such that, in use, its longitudinal axis extends substantially perpendicularly to the axis of the telescopic spring unit 1 5. The lever 1 3 of the front massage unit 8 on the other hand, is inclined to the axis of the telescopic spring unit 1 5. Thus, the telescopic unit 1 5 may be attached to corresponding pairs of holes 14 in the levers 1 3 in order to adjust the bias on the levers 13, and hence on the remainder of the massage units 8 and 9.

At the ends of the levers 10 distant from the shafts 11, there are rotatably mounted respective shafts 1 7. Each of the shafts 1 7 has fixed thereon left and right sets of roller units 18. Each set of roller units 18 preferably comprises three such units. Each roller unit 18 comprises a mounting 19 which mounts idler rollers 20 eccentrically of the shaft 1 7.

The rollers 20 of the front massaging unit 8 have concave curved surfaces whereas the rollers 20 of the rear massaging unit 9 have convex curved surfaces. The axes of the rollers 20 are inclined symmetrically as indicated in Fig. 3 so that a massaging effect is achieved around the ankle of the patient.

Further, preferably three roller units 18 are provided in each set disposed on each side of a median plane 21 of the apparatus so that a substantially even and regular massaging effect is produced without requiring high peripheral speeds of the roller units 18. An electric motor 22 is provided and is arranged to drive both shafts 17 of the front and rear massaging units 8 and 9. The paths of the extremities of the roller units 18 are indicated by chain dotted circles 23 and 24 in Fig. 2.

The effect of the compression spring in the telescopic unit 1 5 is to urge the lower end of the levers 1 3 outwardly. This causes the shaft 11 and the levers 10 fixed thereon to be urged in clockwise and anticlockwise direction for the front and rear massaging units, respectively, so that the roller units 1 9 are pressed against the ankle 6 of the patient. This biasing of the two massage units with respect to each other allows the massaging units to compensate for differences in the size, shape, and position of different patients' ankles. The telescopic unit 1 5 may be adjusted to provide a desired massaging pressure on the ankle 6.

The housing 1 also contains a cooling unit, for instance of the Freon loop type connected to a compressor driven by an electric motor. A Freon loop of the type used to freeze or store ice-cream may be used as such loops are very effective and efficient in producing a large cooling effect without consuming an excessive amount of power. The housing 1 may be made of a fibreglass material or a fibre reinforced plastics such as glass reinforced plastics moulding. No thermal lagging of the housing is necessary because the freon loop and compressor are sufficiently efficient to provide adequate cooling for treatment with the apparatus. Indeed, the loop is sufficiently efficient to remove heat generated by the various electrical motors in the housing 1 and copes readily with the use of a cotton or polythene sock on the foot of the patient.

Such a sock may be used for purposes of hygiene to keep the interior of the housing clean. The polythene sock may be of the disposable type so that it can be thrown away after having been used for a patient.

The normal temperature of the ankle of a patient in a conventional treatment room, without wearing any footwear, is approximately 25"C. It is desirable for the apparatus to treat ankle at a temperature of approximately 10on, although a temperature of approximately 5"C may also be advantageous. A Freon loop arrangement of the type described above is capable of maintaining the ankle of a patient being treated at such suitable temperatures.

Figs. 4 and 5 of the accompanying drawings illustrate a drive arrangement for driving the foot plate 7. The apparatus has lower and rear panels 25 and 26, respectively, to which a mounting plate 27 is fixed by brackets 28.

The lower panel 25 is arranged to be substantially horizontal so that the foot plate 7 is inclined at approximately 40"C to the horizontal in its rest position and moves about this rest position when the apparatus is in use.

The foot-plate 7 is fixed to a bracket 29 which is pivotally attached at 30 and 31 to two horizontal members 32 and 33 of a parallel linkage. The ends of the horizontal members 32 and 33 are pivoted to side members 34 and 35 at axes 36 to 39.

The side members 34 and 35 extend upwardly of the parallel linkage and are pivotally connected to universal connection members 40 and 41 at their upper ends. The universal connection members 40 and 41 are pivotally mounted to the frame members 12. Fig. 5 shows in dashed lines at 42 a limit position of swinging motion transversely to the foot-plate 7, the foot-plate effectively swinging about a longitudinal axis 43 which is fixed with re spect to the apparatus.

An electric motor 44 is fixed to the mounting plate 27 by means of a front plate 45, spacers 46, and nuts and bolts. The motor 44 is connected via a reduction gearing 47 to an oscillatory drive which is connected to the parallel linkage by a shaft 48. A further linkage 49 is provided for swinging the parallel linkage and the foot-plate 7 about a path such that the foot-plate 7 reciprocates about the axis 43 and a further horizontal axis which is perpendicular to the axis 43 but displaced slightly thereabove because of the universal connection of the parallel linkage to the housing. The further linkage 49 is not shown in Fig. 4 for the sake of clarity. This linkage comprises a rod 50 connected at its upper end to the foot-plate 7 and having an enlarged lower end received in an annular groove 51.A member 52 is rotated by the motor 44 via the reduction gearing and causes the lower end of the rod 50 to move around the annular groove 51.

This arrangement is thus capable of moving the foot-plate 7 in the desired way so as to achieve the required articulation of the ankle of a patient. In particular, the motor 44 operates the various transmission arrangements so as to reciprocate the foot-plate 7 about an axis which is substantially perpendicular to the foot-plate and so as to reciprocate the foot-plate 7, by means of the linkage 49, about an axis which is generally transverse to the longitudinal axis of the foot-plate 7. The transverse swinging action of the foot-plate on the parallel linkage further accommodates the corresponding movement in the ankle of the patient during the above described pivotal reciprocation. The reciprocation about the two axes is performed at the same frequency and with a relative phase such that the toes of the patient describe a generally elliptical path, the major axis of which is generally horizontal.

"Freon" is a Registered Trade Mark.

Claims (11)

1. An apparatus for ankle reflex treatment, comprising a housing for receiving a foot and ankle of a patient and containing a footplate provided with a drive for oscillating the footplate simultaneously about a first axis substantially perpendicular to the footplate and about a second axis extending generally transversely of the footplate, there being provided in the housing means for massaging the ankle and means for cooling the ankle.

2. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the cooling means comprises a "Freon' '-charged loop provided with a compressor.

3. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein the massaging means comprises front and rear massage units arranged to the front and rear, respectively, of the patient's ankle when the apparatus is in use.

4. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 3, wherein each massage unit comprises a massage head on a pivotally mounted lever biased to urge the massage head against the patient's ankle.

5. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the levers are biased with respect to each other so as to compensate for different positions of the ankle in the housing.

6. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 or 5, wherein each massage head comprises a rotatable shaft provided with a drive and connected to a plurality of eccentrically disposed idler rollers.

7. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the rollers of the front massage unit have concave curved surfaces, and the rollers of the rear massage unit have convex curved surfaces.

8. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 or 7, wherein the rollers are made of conforming rubber.

9. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 6, 7 or 8, wherein the motor having a transmission for driving the shafts of both the massage heads.

10. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the housing has a hinged portion which can be opened to allow a patient's foot and ankle to be inserted.

11. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 10, wherein the hinged portion of the housing is linked to the massaging means so as to retract the latter for insertion of the foot and ankle.

1 2. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the footplate drive is arranged to drive the footplate such that the toes of a patient whose foot is resting on the footplate describe a substantially elliptical path.

1 3. An apparatus for ankle reflex treatment, constructed substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.