Passive Exercise Device Knee Shear Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing passive exercise assisting devices for stretching lower leg muscles often cause knee pain due to the heavy load applied on the knee joints, limiting their effectiveness for users with knee issues, and fail to provide an optimal combination of muscle excitation for venous return and blood flow promotion.
Innovation Solution
A passive exercise assisting device with left and right foot supports that move in a linked manner, varying the lateral distance between them to reduce shear forces on the knee joints, allowing for a composite movement in both forward/rearward and lateral directions, which effectively stretches lower leg muscles, promotes venous return, and enhances muscle contraction for improved blood flow and sugar uptake.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the device applies heavy load to the knee joints to stretch lower leg muscles effectively, then muscle stretching effect is improved, but knee pain increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces lateral movement dimension in addition to forward/rearward movement. The foot supports move not only in the forward/rearward direction but also in the lateral direction, creating a composite movement pattern that reduces shear forces on the knee joints while maintaining muscle stretching effectiveness through multi-directional motion
2Device complexity
If the device uses simple forward/rearward movement to stretch muscles, then device complexity is reduced, but venous return promotion is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the movement pattern dynamic by varying the lateral distance between left and right foot supports during operation. The lateral distance changes over time, creating dynamically adjusted movement trajectories that enhance muscle contraction and venous return promotion while maintaining relatively simple overall movement mechanics
Data Source
AI summary
A housing is adapted to be placed on a floor and is provided on its top face with a left foot support 2a and a right foot supports 2b respectively bearing left and right feet of a user. A drive unit 3 is provided to displace the left and right foot supports 2a and 2b in a mutually linked manner. The drive unit 3 is configured to reciprocate the left and right foot supports 2a and 2b in a forward/rearward direction respectively along individual travel paths La, Lb, while varying a lateral distance between said left and right foot supports with regard to representative points of the left and right foot supports. The lateral distance between forward ends of the travel paths is made greater than the lateral distance between rearward ends of the travel paths.