Pivoting Board Exercise Apparatus for Core Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current exercise equipment fails to effectively activate interstitial mechanoreceptors and proprioceptors, leading to inadequate core strength and stability, and often requires advanced athletic skills or is not suitable for the general population, neglecting the importance of neurological motor control and sensory receptor activation.
Innovation Solution
A portable exercise machine with two elongated boards and a pivot member, allowing the upper board to pivot like a teeter totter, providing resistive forces that activate mechanoreceptors through various exercises in recumbent, semi-recumbent, and prone positions, promoting core strength and stability by stimulating the nervous system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If upright standing exercise equipment is used to activate proprioceptors, then core muscle activation is improved, but safety and accessibility deteriorate due to requirement of advanced athletic skills
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional upright standing exercise approach by placing the user in a supine position on a stable surface. This inversion eliminates the balance challenges and safety risks of standing equipment while maintaining core muscle activation through the controlled instability mechanism, making the exercise accessible to the general population rather than requiring advanced athletic skills
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a controlled instability mechanism as an intermediary between the stable surface and the user's body. This intermediary provides the necessary proprioceptive stimulation and core muscle activation without requiring the user to maintain balance on an unstable surface, thus resolving the contradiction between effectiveness and safety
2Ease of operation
If rolling action is used to create board instability, then proprioceptive activation is improved, but effectiveness deteriorates because it does not activate interstitial mechanoreceptors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of instability from dynamic rolling motion to controlled oscillatory motion through the instability mechanism. This parameter change allows for sustained activation of interstitial mechanoreceptors in the core muscles while maintaining proprioceptive stimulation, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and reliability of mechanoreceptor activation
3Strength
If Pilates equipment is used to activate mechanoreceptors, then core stability is improved, but accessibility deteriorates due to large size and high cost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex Pilates equipment system into a simplified version using basic components: a stable surface, an unstable surface, and an instability mechanism. This segmentation maintains the core stability benefits while dramatically reducing size, cost, and storage requirements, making the equipment accessible and portable for home use
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs simple, inexpensive materials and construction methods to create the exercise device, replacing the expensive, complex Pilates equipment with an affordable alternative that can be easily manufactured and distributed for home use
Data Source
AI summary
An exercise apparatus system is provided that uses two elongated boards and a pivot member; the configuration allows a person to perform exercise body movements from recumbent, semi-recumbent, supine, and prone positions while receiving biofeedback resistance forces to improve neurological and muscular health. The system restores core stability neuromuscular systems, including improved function of the hip and shoulder joints.