Knee joint orthotic device manufacturing apparatus and knee joint orthotic device manufacturing method, and knee joint treatment support apparatus and knee joint treatment support method

Abstract

Noninvasive natural healing in daily life or regenerative cell treatment can be promoted. A knee joint model is constructed by three-dimensionally analyzing measurement data obtained by measuring an outline shape and internal space shape of a knee joint part of a subject; a transition state towards an orthotic direction for a symptom improvement of the knee joint part is simulated continuously or stepwisely with reference to the knee joint model; and an exoskeleton mold capable of continuously or stepwisely finely adjusting the knee joint part towards the orthotic direction is designed based on the transition state.

1 . A knee joint orthotic device manufacturing apparatus comprising:
 a model construction unit that constructs a knee joint model by three-dimensionally analyzing measurement data obtained by measuring an outline shape and internal space shape of a knee joint part of a subject;   a transition state prediction unit that continuously or stepwisely simulates a transition state towards an orthotic direction for a symptom improvement of the knee joint part so that a load imposed by the subject's own weight on the knee joint part causes a contact pressure force to be dispersed between a femur tip and a tibia tip with reference to the knee joint model by the model construction unit; and   a mold designing unit that designs an exoskeleton mold capable of continuously or stepwisely finely adjusting the knee joint part towards the orthotic direction on the basis of the transition state by the transition state prediction unit.   
     
     
         2 . The knee joint orthotic device manufacturing apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the transition state prediction unit simulates the transition state towards the orthotic direction of the knee joint model so that the outline shape and the internal space shape of the knee joint part changes their shapes smoothly from a current start state to the wearer's ideal healthy state.   
     
     
         3 . The knee joint orthotic device manufacturing apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the exoskeleton mold designed by the mold designing unit is composed of a wearable-type knee joint orthotic device including: a thigh fixing unit closely attached and fastened to a lower thigh part of the subject; a shin fixing unit secured to an upper shin part of the subject; a hinge unit that couples the thigh fixing unit and the shin fixing unit together and pivotally supports the knee joint part of the subject in a manner freely rotatable in a bending direction and an extending direction; and an adjustment mechanism capable of adjusting an rotation angle of the hinge unit.   
     
     
         4 . A knee joint treatment support apparatus comprising:
 a pressure sensing unit that is attached to the knee joint orthotic device manufactured by the knee joint orthotic device manufacturing apparatus stated in  claim 1  and detects a pressure applied to an external force acting point of the knee joint part of the subject wearing the knee joint orthotic device; and   a state-maintaining detection unit that is attached to the knee joint orthotic device manufactured by the knee joint orthotic device manufacturing apparatus stated in  claim 1  and detects an adjustment amount of the knee joint orthotic device so that the transition state towards the orthotic direction of the knee joint part will be maintained within a specified reference range on the basis of a result of the detection by the pressure sensing unit.   
     
     
         5 . A knee joint treatment support apparatus comprising:
 a pressure sensing unit that is attached to each of the thigh fixing unit and the shin fixing unit of the subject wearing the knee joint orthotic device manufactured by the knee joint orthotic device manufacturing apparatus stated in  claim 3  and detects a pressure applied to an external force acting point of the knee joint part; and   a state-maintaining detection unit that detects an adjustment amount of the adjustment mechanism so that the transition state towards the orthotic direction of the knee joint part will be maintained within a specified reference range on the basis of a result of the detection by the pressure sensing unit.   
     
     
         6 . The knee joint treatment support apparatus according to  claim 5 ,
 wherein the adjustment mechanism includes an actuator drive mechanism and automatically adjusts the rotation angle of the hinge unit according to the adjustment amount detected by the state-maintaining adjustment unit.   
     
     
         7 . A knee joint orthotic device manufacturing method comprising:
 constructing a knee joint model by three-dimensionally analyzing measurement data obtained by measuring an outline shape and internal space shape of a knee joint part of a subject;   continuously or stepwisely simulating a transition state towards an orthotic direction for a symptom improvement of the knee joint part so that a load imposed by the subject's own weight on the knee joint part causes a contact pressure force to be dispersed between a femur tip and a tibia tip with reference to the knee joint model; and   designing an exoskeleton mold capable of continuously or stepwisely finely adjusting the knee joint part towards the orthotic direction on the basis of the transition state.   
     
     
         8 . The knee joint orthotic device manufacturing method according to  claim 7 ,
 wherein the transition state towards the orthotic direction of the knee joint model is simulated so that the outline shape and the internal space shape of the knee joint part changes their shapes smoothly from a current start state to the wearer's ideal healthy state.   
     
     
         9 . The knee joint orthotic device manufacturing method according to  claim 7 ,
 wherein the designed exoskeleton mold is composed of a wearable-type knee joint orthotic device including: a thigh fixing unit closely attached and fastened to a lower thigh part of the subject; a shin fixing unit secured to an upper shin part of the subject; a hinge unit that couples the thigh fixing unit and the shin fixing unit together and pivotally supports the knee joint part of the subject in a manner freely rotatable in a bending direction and an extending direction; and an adjustment mechanism capable of adjusting an rotation angle of the hinge unit.   
     
     
         10 . A knee joint treatment support method comprising:
 detecting a pressure applied to an external force acting point of the knee joint part of the subject wearing the knee joint orthotic device with respect to the knee joint orthotic device manufactured by the knee joint orthotic device manufacturing method stated in  claim 7 ; and   detecting an adjustment amount of the exoskeleton mold so that the transition state towards the orthotic direction of the knee joint part will be maintained within a specified reference range on the basis of a result of the detection by the pressure sensing unit.   
     
     
         11 . A knee joint treatment support method comprising:
 detecting a pressure applied to an external force acting point of the knee joint part with respect to the thigh fixing unit and the shin fixing unit of the subject wearing the knee joint orthotic device manufactured by the knee joint orthotic device manufacturing method stated in  claim 9 ; and   detecting an adjustment amount of the adjustment mechanism so that the transition state towards the orthotic direction of the knee joint part will be maintained within a specified reference range on the basis of a result of the detection by the pressure sensing unit.   
     
     
         12 . The knee joint treatment support method according to  claim 11 ,
 wherein the adjustment mechanism includes an actuator drive mechanism and automatically adjusts the rotation angle of the hinge unit according to the adjustment amount detected by the state-maintaining adjustment unit.