JPH10201860A - Low frequency medical treatment equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To show a stable soft starting function. SOLUTION: A low frequency medical treatment equipment is the one where a low frequency pulse is permitted to flow between a pair of electrodes 4 and 4 which are brought into contact with a human body and also the soft start function for gradually enlarging an output level from the starting of the output of the low frequency pulse is provided. A soft start output adjusting part is formed in a constant current output means 3. Even when a human body resistance value and a contact resistance value are changed, an increasing quantity at the time of soft starting for gradually increasing the output level is made to be fixed so that the stable soft start function is obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a low frequency treatment device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A low-frequency therapeutic device is a device that applies a low-frequency pulse to a human body through a pair of electrodes that contact the human body to stimulate the human body. This low-frequency therapeutic device has a soft start function. There are many things. This soft-start function is to start the output of low-frequency output pulses by gradually increasing the pulse height or width of the output pulses or by gradually increasing the number of pulses, so that a sudden stimulus is applied to the human body at the start of output. This is to prevent them from joining.

[0003] Conventionally, an output adjustment section for the soft start is formed by constant voltage output means.

[0004]

In the above-described device in which the output level is adjusted by the voltage value, the amount of energy to be output is constant, so that the human body resistance value and the electrode between a pair of electrodes attached to the human body are reduced. There is a problem that the current value changes depending on the contact resistance value between the body and the human body. That is, FIG. 7 shows a case where the soft start is performed by gradually increasing the pulse wave height, FIG. 8 shows a case where the soft start is performed by gradually increasing the pulse wave width, and FIG. The case where the resistance value is small as shown in FIG.
The case where the resistance value shown in (b) is medium and the case where the resistance value shown in each figure (c) is large change into a current flowing through the human body. Depending on the place of application and the degree of adhesion to the human body at the time of application, it is often the case that the same therapeutic effect cannot be obtained at each treatment, and the output level may not increase easily or may increase rapidly Therefore, there is a case where the original operation of the soft start function cannot be obtained because the amount of increase when the output level is gradually increased is not constant.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and an object of the present invention is to provide a low-frequency treatment device capable of exhibiting a stable soft-start function.

[0006]

The present invention has a soft-start function in which a low-frequency pulse is applied between a pair of electrodes that come into contact with the human body and the output level is gradually increased from the start of the output of the low-frequency pulse. The low-frequency treatment device described above is characterized in that the soft-start output adjusting section is formed by constant current output means. Even when the human body resistance value or the contact resistance value changes, the output level gradually increases, and the amount of increase at the time of soft start can be kept constant.
A stable soft start function can be obtained.

[0007] A human body detecting function for detecting whether or not the electrode is in contact with the human body may be provided.
Even if the resistance value changes, the level of the feedback current used for the human body detection is constant, so that a stable human body detection function can be obtained. It may have three or more electrodes. Also in this case, the same therapeutic effect and stimulating feeling can be always given to a plurality of places where the electrodes are brought into contact, and it is not necessary to provide an output level adjusting function for each part where the electrodes come into contact.

[0008] A plurality of pairs of electrodes may be provided and switching means for switching output to each pair of electrodes may be provided.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of an output section of a low-frequency therapeutic device according to the present invention, and a pulse generating means for generating a pulse signal. 1. Boosting means 2 for boosting the power supply voltage, output means 3 for accumulating the boosted voltage or outputting it as a low-frequency pulse as it is, and a pair of electrodes 4 and 4 which allow the low-frequency pulse to flow through the human body by contact with the human body Here, the output means 3 is formed by the constant current output means 3. In this apparatus, the constant current output means 3 has a soft start function for gradually increasing the output level from the start of the output. By adjusting the current value of the output pulse waveform. In this case, the output level is increased by increasing the pulse height shown in FIG. 2 (a), increasing the pulse width shown in FIG. 2 (b), and increasing the number of pulses shown in FIG. 2 (c). However, by performing the output level adjustment with the current value in the constant current output means 3, the same output level can be obtained even when the human body resistance value and the contact resistance value are different. Can be made the same regardless of the resistance value.

As shown in FIG. 3, when a human body detecting means 5 for detecting a human body by a feedback current from the electrode 4 is provided, and each part is controlled in accordance with the result of the human body detection by the human body detecting means 5, a detection signal is output. Is constant irrespective of the human body resistance value or the contact resistance value between the electrode 4 and the human body, so that stable human body detection can be performed.

FIG. 4 shows three or more electrodes, two to four in the illustrated example.
In this case, a plurality of electrodes 4 are provided so that treatment at a plurality of locations can be performed at the same time. In this case, the resistance value between a certain pair of electrodes 4 and the resistance value between another pair of electrodes 4 are shown. Can provide a low frequency stimulus of the same current level. As shown in FIG. 5, there is provided a switching means 6 provided between the constant current output means 3 and a plurality of pairs of electrodes 4 for switching which pair of electrodes 4 outputs an output. Even when the switching unit 6 switches the electrode 4 through which the current flows, the low-frequency stimulus having the same current level as before can be given.

FIG. 6 shows a specific circuit in which the above-mentioned human body detecting means 5 and the switching means 6 for switching a plurality of pairs of electrodes 4 are provided. The pulse generating means is constituted by a microcomputer here. The switching means 6 is switched by a signal output from the microcomputer.

[0013]

As described above, in the present invention, since the soft start output adjusting section is formed by the constant current output means, even if the human body resistance value or the contact resistance value between the electrode and the human body changes. The output level and the amount of increase at the time of soft start in which the output level is gradually increased can be kept constant, and therefore a stable soft start function can be obtained.

Also, in the case of a device having a human body detecting function for detecting whether or not the electrode is in contact with the human body, the level of the feedback current used for detecting the human body is constant even if the resistance value changes. A stable human body detection function can be obtained. In the case where three or more electrodes are provided so that low-frequency stimulation treatment can be performed simultaneously at a plurality of locations, the same therapeutic effect and stimulus can always be given to a plurality of locations where the electrodes are brought into contact, and the electrodes are brought into contact with each other. There is no need to provide an output level adjustment function for each part to be made.

A plurality of pairs of electrodes and switching means for switching the output to each pair of electrodes may be provided. Even in this case, the same therapeutic effect is always provided at a plurality of places where each pair of electrodes is in contact. In addition to providing an irritating feeling, it is not necessary to provide an output level adjusting function for each site where the electrodes are brought into contact.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2 (a), 2 (b) and 2 (c) are explanatory diagrams of the above operation.

FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram of another example.

FIG. 4 is a block circuit diagram of still another example.

FIG. 5 is a block circuit diagram of another example.

FIG. 6 is a specific circuit diagram of still another example.

FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C are operation explanatory diagrams showing an operation change accompanying a resistance value change in a conventional example.

FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C are operation explanatory diagrams showing an operation change accompanying a resistance value change of another conventional example.

FIGS. 9A, 9B, and 9C are operation explanatory diagrams showing an operation change accompanying a resistance value change of another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 pulse generation circuit 2 step-up means 3 constant current output means 4 electrodes

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A low-frequency treatment device having a soft-start function for causing a low-frequency pulse to flow between a pair of electrodes brought into contact with a human body and for gradually increasing the output level from the start of output of the low-frequency pulse. A low-frequency therapeutic device wherein the start output adjusting section is formed by constant current output means. 2. The low-frequency therapeutic device according to claim 1, further comprising a human body detecting function for detecting whether or not the electrode is in contact with the human body. 3. The low-frequency therapeutic device according to claim 1, wherein three or more electrodes are provided. 4. The low-frequency therapeutic device according to claim 3, further comprising a plurality of pairs of electrodes and a switching means for switching output to each pair of electrodes.