JP2012115355A - Massage machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain sufficient stretching effect regardless of size of a foot, in a massage machine aiming at the lower limbs.SOLUTION: The massage machine 1 includes leg rests 5 and footrests 6 respectively supporting leg parts and feet of a medical treated person. The footrest 6 includes: a sole acupressure unit 14 thereinside; and a stretch plate 11 turning with a heel side as a fulcrum on the upper face thereof. The sole acupressure unit 14 projects acupressure elements 20 through through-holes 25 formed in the stretch plate 11 to apply acupressure force to the sole of the foot of the medical treated person placed on the stretch plate 11, and pushes up the stretch plate 11 in parts except the through-holes 25 by the acupressure elements 20 to turn the stretch plate 11 around the fulcrum. The sole acupressure unit 14 is movable in the back-and-forth direction, and the through-hole 25 is an oblong hole long in the back-and-forth direction.

Description

  The present invention relates to a massage machine, and particularly to a massage machine for the lower limbs.

  Stimulation on the body of the user such as finger pressure (strictly speaking, “pressure equivalent to finger pressure”, but this is referred to as “finger pressure” in this specification), vibration, compression, striking, and unwinding Various types of massage machines have been developed and used. Among them, there are those that treat the leg centered on the calf, and further treat the tip of the ankle from the ankle. Examples of such lower limb massage machines can be found in Patent Documents 1 to 4.

  The massage machine described in patent document 1 arrange | positions the upper massage part which consists of an upper air cell on the housing which uses an upper surface as a footrest board, and the lower massage part which consists of a lower air cell, and its inside A reciprocating mechanism is arranged, and the lower massage part reciprocates along a predetermined trajectory by the reciprocating mechanism so that the acupressure protrusions erected on the upper surface of the lower air cell are caused to appear and disappear from the footrest plate to intermittently press the sole of the foot.

  The massage machine described in Patent Document 2 constitutes a legrest provided with a side airbag that constitutes a clamping means for clamping a user's leg from the side, and lift means for pushing up the tip of the foot tip. A footrest provided with a bottom air bag is provided, and the lift means is operated in a state where the side surface of the leg is clamped by the clamping means to lift the tip of the foot tip.

  The massage machine described in Patent Literature 3 includes a foot massage unit and a calf massage unit, and the calf massage unit always exerts a rotational force in the direction of getting up with respect to the foot massage unit. .

  The massage machine described in Patent Document 4 includes a base portion placed on a floor surface, and a reclining movable portion supported on the base portion so as to be swingable in the front-rear direction. A concave receiving portion for inserting the toe and a leg receiving portion for inserting the calf of the user are formed.

JP 2000-167021 A (International Patent Classification: A61H39 / 04, A61H7 / 00) Japanese Patent No. 4121918 (International Patent Classification: A61H7 / 00, A61H39 / 04) Japanese Patent No. 4017608 (International Patent Classification: A61H7 / 00) Patent No. 4201801 (International Patent Classification: A61H7 / 00)

  Like the massage machine described in Patent Document 2, if it has a function of lifting the tip of the toe, it can stretch from the Achilles tendon to the calf, increasing the flexibility of the ankle and lowering the leg Helps reduce injury. However, since the device described in Patent Document 2 lifts the toe directly with the bottom airbag, the acupressure attached to the bottom airbag pushes the sole of the foot with a pinpoint to cause pain, There is a problem that the lifted portion differs depending on the size, and in a severe case, only the fingertip can be lifted, the leg portion and the tip of the foot are not in a desired acute angle state, and the effect of stretching does not occur.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a massage machine capable of obtaining a sufficient stretching effect regardless of the size of a foot in a massage machine for lower limbs. To do.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the massage machine includes a leg rest and a footrest that respectively support a leg and a foot of the user, and the footrest has a sole acupressure unit inside and a heel side on the top surface. The foot pressure unit includes a stretch plate that rotates as a fulcrum, and the finger pressure unit projects a finger depressor through a through hole formed in the stretch plate and applies finger pressure to the sole of the user who is placed on the stretch plate. In addition, the stretch plate is pushed up by the acupressure element at a place other than the through hole to rotate the stretch plate around the fulcrum.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the massage machine configured as described above, the sole pressure unit is movable in the front-rear direction.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the massage machine configured as described above, the through hole of the stretch plate is a long hole extending in the front-rear direction, and the acupressure element is attached to the stretch plate at a location in front of the through hole forming region. Push up.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the massage machine configured as described above, a plurality of through holes of the stretch plate are arranged at intervals in the front-rear direction, and the acupressure element is located in front of the through hole forming region or The stretch plate is pushed up at a location between the through holes.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the massage machine configured as described above, the sole acupressure unit moves the acupressure element up and down with an airbag.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the massage machine includes a footrest that supports the toes of the user, and the footrest rotates inside with a sole pressure unit inside, and on the upper surface with the heel side as a fulcrum. The sole pressure unit comprises a through-hole formed in the stretch plate to project a finger depressor and apply finger pressure to the sole of the user placed on the stretch plate, and the through-hole The stretch plate is pushed up by the acupressure element at a place other than the above and the stretch plate is rotated around the fulcrum.

  According to the present invention, since the stretch plate is lifted with the acupressure of the sole pressure unit and the angle of the stretch plate with respect to the legrest is changed to perform stretching, the acupressure presses the sole with a pinpoint to ache. The foot tip is bent at a predetermined angle with respect to the leg portion regardless of the size of the foot, and a stretching effect can be surely obtained.

It is a perspective view of a massage machine concerning an embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of the massage machine which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is sectional drawing explaining the acupressure operation | movement by the sole acupressure unit of the massage machine which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a top view of the location shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing explaining the stretching operation | movement by the sole pressure unit of the massage machine which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a top view of the location shown in FIG. It is a top view of the stretch board used with the massage machine concerning a 1st embodiment. It is a side view of the stretch board used with the massage machine concerning a 1st embodiment. It is sectional drawing explaining the acupressure operation | movement by the sole acupressure unit of the massage machine which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a top view of the location shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing explaining the stretching operation | movement by the sole pressure unit of the massage machine which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a top view of the location shown in FIG. It is a top view of the stretch board used with the massage machine concerning a 2nd embodiment. It is a side view of the stretch board used with the massage machine concerning a 2nd embodiment. It is a flowchart of a foot position detection by the sole pressure unit. It is a graph explaining the foot position detection by a sole pressure unit.

  1st Embodiment of this invention is described based on the figure from FIG. 1 to FIG. The massage machine 1 is designed to massage the lower limbs, and includes a base portion 2 placed on the floor and a cradle portion 3 attached to the base portion 2 so as to be swingable. As a mechanism in which the cradle part 3 swings with respect to the base part 2, for example, a mechanism disclosed in Patent Document 4 can be employed.

  The cradle portion 3 is formed with a pair of left and right grooves 4 in which a user sitting on a chair inserts a portion below the knee in the lower limb. In the cradle part 3, the part that supports the leg part (referred to as above the ankle from below the knee) centering on the calf is the legrest 5, and the part that supports the tip of the foot from the ankle is the footrest 6.

  On the top surface of the cradle part 3, an operation panel part 7 is formed at a location between the left and right leg rests 5. On the left and right side surfaces of the cradle part 3, a handle part 8 is formed to hold a hand when the massage machine 1 is carried.

  A plurality of airbags are arranged on both sides of the groove 4, and massage is performed by pressing the legs and toes of the user from both sides. In FIG. 2, the airbag is represented by concentric patterns 30, 31, and 32. The airbag 30 compresses the shin of the leg, the airbag 31 compresses the back side (calf) of the leg, and the airbag 32 compresses the side of the foot. The airbag 31 has three inflated portions arranged in the vertical direction, and these are formed so as to communicate with each other. These mechanisms are well known and will not be described in detail.

  The legrest 5 has a rear wall 9 that faces the calf of the user, and the footrest 6 has a footboard 10 that faces the sole of the user. On the tread board 10, a stretch board 11 that rotates with the heel side as a fulcrum is overlaid.

  The stretch plate 11 has a hinge shaft 12 at the end on the heel side, and a hinge base 13 for receiving the hinge shaft 12 is fixed to the upper surface of the tread plate 10. Due to the hinge structure constituted by the hinge shaft 12 and the hinge base 13, the stretch plate 11 is connected to the tread plate 10 so as to be rotatable in a vertical plane.

  Inside the footrest 6, a sole pressure unit 14 is disposed under the footboard 10. The sole pressure unit 14 includes a left foot unit and a right foot unit, and both of them are supported by a guide device (not shown) so as to be movable in the front-rear direction in parallel with the tread board 10.

  The left foot sole pressure unit 14 and the right foot sole pressure unit 14 are attached to the left and right ends of the beam 15 shown in FIG. Inside the cradle portion 3, a feed screw 16 extending in the front-rear direction is disposed between the left and right grooves 4. A nut (not shown) is combined with the feed screw 16, and a beam 15 is connected to the nut. When the feed screw 16 is rotated by a motor (not shown), the sole pressure unit 14 moves forward or backward depending on the rotation direction.

  The sole acupressure unit 14 is attached to a housing 17, a cylindrical airbag 18 disposed therein, and a top plate 19 of the airbag 18, and a cylindrical portion 22 formed on the top plate 21 of the housing 17. A rod-shaped acupressure element 20 that protrudes out of the housing 17 and a compression coil spring 23 inserted between the top plate 21 of the housing 17 and the top plate 19 of the airbag 18 are provided. As shown in FIG. 4, two acupressure elements 20 protrude from the left and right sides of the top plate 19, that is, are arranged in a single foot sole pressure unit 14 so as to be arranged side by side. The distance between the two acupressure elements 20 is set so as to be within the range of the average foot width of an adult.

  The tread board 10 and the stretch board 11 are formed with through holes for allowing the acupressure elements 20 to reach the soles. The through hole 24 of the tread board 10 and the through hole 25 of the stretch board 11 are both long holes in the front-rear direction, and the cylindrical portion 22 of the sole pressure unit 14 enters the through hole 24. However, the cylindrical portion 22 does not reach the through hole 25.

The through holes 24 and 25 cover the toes and toes of the foot of the user, but the through hole 24 extends further forward than the through hole 25. That is, when looking through the through hole 24 from below, the front part of the through hole forming region of the stretch plate 11 is exposed. An acupressure element engaging recess 26 is formed at the exposed portion so as to straddle the two through holes 24. The acupressure element engaging recess 26 is for preventing the acupressure element 20 from deviating from the stretch plate 11, and the engraving is shallow.

  The operation of the massage machine 1 is as follows. The user sits on a chair (not shown) placed after the massage machine 1, puts the lower limb into the groove 4, leaves the leg to the legrest 5, and leaves the foot to the footrest 6. And the operation button in the operation panel part 7 is operated, the power supply of the massage machine 1 is turned ON, and a desired massage course is selected. When the massage is started, an air pump (not shown) sends air into the airbags arranged on both sides of the leg and the tip of the foot to inflate the airbag. Thereby, a leg part and a toe are pressed from both sides. After a predetermined time has elapsed, the air is extracted from the airbag, and the airbag contracts. By repeating this with a predetermined rhythm, the leg and the tip of the foot are trapped from both sides.

  While the leg and the toe are sandwiched from both sides, the sole pressure unit 14 is moved back and forth by the feed screw 16. When the sole pressure unit 14 stops at a predetermined position, the air pump (not shown) sends air into the airbag 18 and inflates the airbag 18 against the pressure of the compression coil spring 23. When the airbag 18 is inflated, the acupressure element 20 rises as shown in FIG. 3 and protrudes from the housing 17 to push the sole of the user. As a result, the user receives acupressure from the “point” on the sole. When a predetermined time elapses, air is extracted from the airbag 18, the airbag 18 contracts, the acupressure element 20 descends to a position where the top is lower than the stretch plate 11, and the acupressure ends.

  Thereafter, the feed screw 16 shifts the position of the sole acupressure unit 14 back and forth, and at that position, the sole acupressure unit 14 pushes the sole against the acupressure element 20 again. By repeating this, acupressure is applied to the entire area of the sole. The sole pressure unit 14 can move back and forth as long as the length of the through hole 25 allows.

  When “stretch” is selected on the operation panel unit 7, the air is released from the airbag 18 and the acupressure element 20 is lowered. In this state, the sole pressure unit 14 moves forward. Even if it reaches the end of the through hole 25, the acupressure element 20 is lowered to a position where the top part is lower than the stretch plate 11, and is not caught by the stretch plate 11. When the acupressure element 20 reaches below the acupressure element engaging recess 26, the sole acupressure unit 14 stops moving forward. Here, air pressure is applied to the airbag 18, and the airbag 18 is inflated.

  As the airbag 18 inflates, the acupressure element 20 rises and protrudes from the housing 17 to push up the stretch plate 11 as shown in FIG. The stretch plate 11 rotates with the hinge shaft 12 as a fulcrum, and the toe of the user placed thereon forms an acute angle with the leg of the user. This stretches the Achilles tendon and the calf muscle that follows it. At this time, if the airbags 30 and 31 on both sides of the leg press the leg to fix the leg tightly, the effect of stretching is further enhanced.

In this way, the acupressure plate 20 lifts the stretch plate 11 with the acupressure 20 of the sole pressure unit 14 and changes the angle of the stretch plate 11 with respect to the leg rest 5 to perform stretching. There is no such thing as squeezing and pain.
In addition, regardless of the size of the foot, the tip of the foot is bent at a predetermined angle with respect to the leg, and a stretching effect can be reliably obtained. Further, since the sole pressure unit 14 is for advancing and retracting the acupressure element 20 with the airbag 18, the force applied to the toes is soft, and excessive stretching can be avoided.

  9 to 14 show a second embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the first embodiment is the structure of the stretch plate 11. That is, in the case of the first embodiment, the through hole 25 is a long hole that is long in the front-rear direction, but in the second embodiment, a plurality of short through-holes 25 (circular in shape) are spaced in the front-rear direction. Is placed. And the acupressure element engaging recess 26 is also formed at a location between the through holes 25.

  The sole pressure unit 14 of the second embodiment stops at a position where the acupressure element 20 coincides with the through hole 25 and applies acupressure to the sole at that position (see FIG. 9). This is performed for each through hole 25.

  During stretching, if the acupressure element 20 pushes up the stretch plate 11 at a location in front of the through hole forming region, the stretch plate 11 is set at the same angle as in the first embodiment and has the same strength as in the first embodiment. Can be stretched.

  As shown in FIG. 11, when the sole acupressure unit 14 is brought close to the heel and the stretch plate 11 is pushed up at a position between the front and rear through holes 25, the inclination angle of the stretch plate 11 increases and the strength of stretching increases. . Depending on the position at which the stretch plate 11 is pushed up, the inclination angle of the stretch plate 11 changes in stages, so that various levels of stretching strength can be selected.

  When the through hole 25 of the stretch plate 11 is a long hole continuous in the front-rear direction as in the first embodiment, the foot acupressure unit 14 is moved in the front-rear direction while keeping the acupressure element 20 in contact with the sole. The shape of the sole can be obtained from the pressure change of the airbag 18 caused by the undulation of the sole. Then, when performing acupressure on the sole of the foot at a later time, the “point” can be pressed as much as possible. This will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 15, in step # 111, the sole pressure unit 14 moves to the heel side.

  In step # 112, a constant output air pressure is applied to the airbag 18 of the sole pressure unit 14. That is, it is pressurized at a constant output. The pressure applied at this time is for the purpose of bringing the acupressure element 20 into contact with the sole and not for the purpose of applying the acupressure to the sole, so the pressure level is low.

  In step # 113, the pressure received by the acupressure element 20 as a reaction from the sole of the foot by a pressure gauge (not shown) provided in either the airbag 18, the pressurizing air pump, or the air supply pipe between the airbag 18 and the air pump. While detecting this, the sole acupressure unit 14 is moved from the heel side to the toe side. When the pressure change of the pressure gauge is observed, the pressure is lowered at the arch portion recessed upward, and the pressure is increased before and after that, and a curve like the graph of FIG. 16 is drawn.

  In step # 114, the shape of the sole is calculated based on the pressure change in the control unit of the massage machine 1. The position of the “point” is also determined.

  In step # 115, the acupressure of the sole is started. The acupressure is performed based on the calculation result of step # 114 while controlling so that the acupressure element 20 does not protrude from the sole of the foot and the acupressure element 20 presses a “point” or a portion close thereto.

  By using the sole pressure unit 14 as described above, it is possible to perform optimal finger pressure in accordance with the shape of the sole of the user.

  Although the massage machine 1 of 1st, 2nd embodiment has the legrest 5 and the footrest 6, it can also be comprised as a massage machine which abolishes the legrest 5 and leaves only the footrest 6, and massages only a foot tip. . Claim 6 of the claims represents this configuration. Even if it is such a massage machine, as long as the user does not move the leg part, the stretching effect can be obtained by the rotation of the stretch plate 11.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  The present invention is widely applicable to lower limb massage machines.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Massage machine 2 Base part 3 Cradle part 4 Groove 5 Legrest 6 Footrest 11 Stretch board 14 Foot acupressure unit 18 Airbag 20 Shiatsu 25 Penetration hole

Claims (6)

In a massage machine equipped with a legrest and a footrest that support the legs and toes of the user,
The footrest comprises a sole acupressure unit inside and a stretch plate that rotates on the upper surface with the heel side as a fulcrum,
The sole acupressure unit projects a finger depressor through a through hole formed in the stretch plate, applies finger pressure to the sole of the user placed on the stretch plate, and places other than the through hole Then, the stretch plate is pushed up by the acupressure element to rotate the stretch plate around the fulcrum.   The massage machine according to claim 1, wherein the sole pressure unit is movable in the front-rear direction.   The massage machine according to claim 2, wherein the through hole of the stretch plate is a long hole that is long in the front-rear direction, and the acupressure element pushes up the stretch plate at a location in front of the through hole forming region.   A plurality of through holes of the stretch plate are arranged at intervals in the front-rear direction, and the acupressure element pushes up the stretch plate at a position in front of the through hole forming region or between the through holes. The massage machine according to claim 2.   The massage machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sole pressure unit is configured to raise and lower the acupressure element with an airbag. In a massage machine with a footrest that supports the toes of the user,
The footrest comprises a sole acupressure unit inside and a stretch plate that rotates on the upper surface with the heel side as a fulcrum,
The sole acupressure unit projects a finger depressor through a through hole formed in the stretch plate, applies finger pressure to the sole of the user placed on the stretch plate, and places other than the through hole Then, the stretch plate is pushed up by the acupressure element to rotate the stretch plate around the fulcrum.

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