Exercise chair and lower extremity exercise system
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing exercise chairs and systems hinder the kinetic chain between the lower extremities and the trunk when securing the trunk to a backrest with a belt, leading to a trade-off between trunk stabilization and flexibility.
Innovation Solution
An exercise chair with stabilizing portions that restrain specific thoracic and cervical vertebrae movements without hindering the kinetic chain, allowing the trunk to be stabilized while performing lower extremity exercises in a sitting position.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the trunk is secured to the backrest with a belt, then the trunk is stabilized, but the kinetic chain between the lower extremities and the trunk is hindered
Solution Approach 1:
The stabilizing portion is divided into multiple contact points along the thoracic spine (at least three vertebrae), providing distributed stabilization rather than a single restrictive attachment. This segmentation allows localized trunk stability while preserving overall kinetic chain movement between the lower extremities and trunk.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the stabilization function from a belt-based trunk-to-backrest connection and implements it through a dedicated stabilizing portion that contacts only specific thoracic vertebrae. This extraction allows trunk stabilization independent of backrest attachment, preserving the kinetic chain flexibility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the seating portion is made unstable to activate the kinetic chain, then the kinetic chain between lower extremities and trunk is activated, but trunk stabilization is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The stabilizing portion provides localized stabilization at specific thoracic vertebrae contact points while allowing other trunk regions to move freely. This local quality approach enables simultaneous trunk stability and kinetic chain activation, resolving the contradiction between stabilization and movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The stabilizing portion is designed to dynamically adapt to user movement during exercise, maintaining contact with the thoracic vertebrae while allowing the seated posture and kinetic chain to move. This dynamic design provides stabilization without rigid restriction.
Data Source
AI summary
An exercise chair that allows a user to perform a lower extremity exercise in a sitting position includes: a seating portion configured to allow the user to sit on the seating portion; and a first stabilizing portion configured to restrain movement of a first specific portion of the user sitting on the seating portion by contacting the user at a position facing the first specific portion in a front-back direction. The first specific portion is either the fifth or ninth thoracic vertebra of the thoracic spine of the user. The front-back direction is a front-back direction as seen from the user sitting on the seating portion. The exercise chair is configured so as not to restrain movement of any part of the thoracic spine of the user other than the first specific portion.