MAGNETOTHERAPY AND COMPRESSIVE MICROVIBRATION APPARATUS FOR THE TISSUES

Magnetotherapy and compressive microvibration apparatus for the tissues comprising a handpiece (100) provided with a recess housing a rotor (500) with installed a plurality of balls (510) rotating by means of an electric motor (600) in electrical connection with a cable (700) in turn connected to a computer terminal, wherein said balls (510) having different viscoelastic properties rotate passively upon contact with the patient's tissue through a rectangular opening (310) of the handpiece (100), wherein on the handpiece (100) an interface is created comprising a display (320), a series of indicators (330) and a plurality of buttons (340) and wherein an inducer device (800) is placed in the cavity of the rotor (500), consisting of at least one solenoid and wherein in the cap (210) of the handpiece there is a pressure (900) and temperature (760) sensor and all governed by dedicated software configured by the operator or self-adjusting via feedback.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present patent application for an invention generally relates to the field of aesthetic medicine, sports medicine and phlebo-lymphology.

The invention is applicable to any field where such a type of device can be advantageously used, but preferably it relates to the field of the treatment of the various forms of cellulite and lipolymphedema.

PRIOR ART

As is known, cellulite manifests itself from an aesthetic point of view in the form of irregularities on the surface of the epidermis and is scientifically referred to as edematous-fibrosclerotic panniculopathy.

Cellulite indicates an alteration of the subcutaneous tissue rich in fat cells and is characterized precisely by the increase in the volume of fat cells, where excess liquids accumulate in the intracellular spaces, which are left over from the body's biochemical processes. The balance of the venous and lymphatic systems is modified by a slowing down of blood flow and fluid retention by the tissues.

The onset of cellulite, even if basically everything can be traced back to an alteration of the microcirculation, can be considered dependent on various factors which often add up to each other. Some of these factors cannot be eliminated and are therefore defined as primary as they are due to sex, race or familiarity, others are defined as secondary as they are connected to certain phases of life, particular pathologies or the intake of drugs and others still aggravating factors are defined as well as poor diet or sedentary lifestyle and which could certainly be controlled by adopting a different lifestyle. Since the 1970s, cellulite is no longer classified as a generic imperfection, but as an autonomous pathological condition.

Treatment of cellulite includes surgical methods and non-invasive methods.

The operation to surgically eliminate cellulite is generically called liposuction and involves the effective removal of fat deposits in limited and fairly extensive body areas, also with the use of general anesthesia to reach the deeper layers. Obviously it is a technique, which although valid, is very invasive and therefore indicated only in the most serious cases.

Leaving aside the treatments with anti-cellulite creams, which are not directly part of the present invention, there are many non-invasive treatments to cure cellulite and which consist of medical techniques that use equipment such as cavitation, ultrasound, radiofrequency, electrolipolysis, cryosculpture, laser therapy, ozone therapy, pressotherapy, lymphatic drainage and magnetotherapy. These techniques are widely practiced both in the professional field and directly by the patient and are more or less effective in resolving or at least reducing this imperfection.

Starting from the consideration that for years the technique of dermo-suction has been used, thanks to which the tissues were sucked up and placed in traction by means of cylinders, this technology has gradually evolved using less bloody techniques for the purpose which, both in the professional field and directly by the user, were based on the well-known compressive micro-vibration technology of the tissues, but which resulted to be variously effective in solving or at least reducing the type of imperfection reported above.

Therefore, the main object of the present invention consists in general in realizing a device based on the well-known technology of compressive micro-vibration of the tissues, which is able to act even more effectively on the reduction of this imperfection, compared to those existing in the prior art and that adopt this technology.

A further object of the present invention is to provide to all those who carry out a professional activity, relating to the treatment of this type of blemish, a device which is capable, with the same apparatus, of implementing in synergy at least two of the techniques previously mentioned, in order to be able to effectively extend the treatment to one type of disorder or synergistically to several types of disorders.

Therefore, the object of the present invention consists in general in realizing a device designed to solve the above problems, as will result from the detailed description of an exemplifying and non-limiting embodiment thereof, illustrated below.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present patent application for industrial invention is intended to describe and claim an apparatus provided with at least a new and alternative solution to the solutions known to date and in particular it aims to obviate one or more of the drawbacks or problems referred to above and/or to meet one or more needs perceived in the art and in particular deducible from the above.

For this purpose, the inventors have developed an effective medical device, capable of realizing the benefits deriving from a combined magnetotherapy treatment and an improved compressive microvibration treatment of the tissues.

Specifically, said medical device can be advantageously used to improve disorders associated with vascular hemodynamics, increase in interstitial fibrous tissue, lymphatic stasis and lymphedema, and painful conditions deriving from edematous conditions.

In particular, the well-known technology of compressive microvibration of the tissues implemented by means of a handpiece, inside which a rotor consisting of multiple silicone balls is housed, is effectively and inventively implemented and perfected using, as described in detail below, multiple balls having a particular internal and external conformation associated with calibrated elastomeric features, capable of transferring pressure on the body area being treated in a controlled manner, by virtue of their particular viscoelastic nature. Specifically, a particularly fundamental feature, according to the present invention, relates to the fact that said calibrated more or less elastomeric features of the balls or better of each row containing balls having the same viscoelastic properties represents a means by which to obtain compressive harmonic waves determined on the body area being treated in addition to the classic compression effect already existing in the art. Even more specifically, said compressive microvibration technology of the tissues modified by the formation of compressive harmonic waves on the body area being treated is due to a hypercompressive effect, which exploits the muscle as active resistance when said body tissue comes into contact cyclically with the balls having high rigidity during the rotation of the rotor. Therefore, it is intuitive to consider that the frequency, duration and amplitude of said compressive harmonic waves derive directly from the arrangement of said row of balls having high rigidity and arranged between the rows having balls with viscoelastic features.

Another innovative feature consists in that the benefits deriving from the aforementioned modified technology of compressive microvibration of the tissues are effectively implemented by combining it with the physical therapy of magnetotherapy and all this by designing said handpiece in order to accommodate a specially conceived solenoid capable of emitting a suitable electromagnetic field to implement a magnetotherapy treatment in synergy.

Although the benefits deriving from the compressive microvibration treatment of the tissues consisting of a lymphatic drainage action, accompanied by a remodeling action, belong to the prior art, by virtue of the vibration and compression exerted by the aforementioned elastomeric balls, it is also appropriate to briefly refer to the benefits brought about by a combined magnetic therapy treatment. Magnetotherapy seems to be able to stimulate tissue regeneration, due to the restoration of a cellular biochemical balance exclusively and effectively for therapeutic and curative purposes. For example, it seems to be effective as an adjuvant treatment against cellulite, precisely because it acts directly on the adipocytes, allowing a strong metabolic stress and locally on the blood circulation to be induced, reducing water retention and inflammation that accompany cellulite itself.

The present invention therefore achieves its main objects which consist in a greater effectiveness of action, realizing a handpiece capable of realizing the benefits deriving from a combined magnetotherapy treatment and a modified compressive microvibration treatment of the tissues, using a single handpiece and all governed by electronic and IT systems capable of ensuring a high level of effectiveness, safety, precision and correctness of the treatment.

The present invention therefore relates to a magnetotherapy and compressive microvibration apparatus for the tissues comprising a handpiece consisting of a head, a body and a handle, which is suitable for housing in its recess a specially designed rotor having an arrangement which permits it to carry out work in a radial direction with respect to the axis of the access hole.

Said rotor is shaped like a hollow cylinder on the lateral surface of which elastomeric rotating balls are placed which rotate on themselves through a passive movement induced by sliding on the tissue, and through an active mechanical rotary movement induced by the roller and managed by the handpiece. Said elastomeric balls are supported on pins common to at least four balls and whose rotation axis coincides with that of insertion into the rotor and in which said pins are constrained respectively to a head ring nut and to a ring nut of the handle. Said ring nut of the handle comprises a fitting system adapted to be inserted on a rotation mechanism forming part of an electrically operated motor and housed within said handle of the handpiece and connected by means of a cable to a computer terminal.

As already stated, the rotation of the rotor is such as to cause the passive rotation of each individual ball on itself, each time it comes into contact with the patient's integumentary apparatus, through a rectangular opening made on said body of the handpiece. Specifically, a fundamental feature of the invention concerns the fact that the system is suitable for ensuring that by placing the handpiece on the dermis only with its weight, the mechanical resistance encountered by the rotor balls while sliding on the patient's tissue is detected by means of a dedicated system of pressure and speed sensors, thus detecting the type of edematous or fibrous tissue with which the balls are in contact and thus independently regulating the intensity of the device according to the resistance. In other words, said device inventively presents a mechanism for adjusting the intensity of the device according to the resistance encountered on the tissue and therefore relating to the presence of more or less incompressible fibrous areas and which represent an unequivocal sign of cellulite areas.

The particular honeycomb arrangement and rather the particular internal and external conformation of said elastomeric balls conferring specific viscoelastic capacities, as well as the presence of a row with rigid balls, also allows, during the rotation implemented by the rotor and during the passage of the handpiece on the tissue of a patient, obtaining both a tissue compressive action and a vibration action consisting of a series of rapid movements transmitted to the tissues themselves with a succession of hypercompressions and lifting which create a succession of amplified compressive waves and ensuring that the contact between the balls and the skin tissue is never interrupted.

Another innovative concept underlying the present invention provides for the presence, at the area of the body of the handpiece between the handle and the rectangular opening, of a temperature sensor capable of detecting the temperature of the patient's integumentary system and therefore detect areas of greater or lesser blood perfusion.

An interface comprising a display, a plurality of indicators and buttons which allows the operator to interact with a dedicated software is made on the body of the handpiece in a position opposite to that of the rectangular opening. A preferred embodiment of the invention provides that said interface consists of a single touch screen, which allows the operator to interact with a graphical interface, capable of realizing the manual display and control of all the above parameters.

In addition to being an indispensable and simple means of displaying the parameters in real time, this interface also allows the operator to be able to instantly vary all those parameters set at the start of the session using the dedicated software, using a standard basic setting or better data present in the memory and obtained from the previous sessions on that patient, as well as the real-time speed of the rotor, the intensity of the impulses of the inductor and the feedback mechanism, which links the automatic variation of the speed of the rotor on the basis of temperature and resistance values that the balls encounter during contact with the tissue or with more or less fibrotic areas being treated.

The set of programs used in the data processing system and which creates the dedicated software includes a program capable of analyzing the data detected by the temperature sensor already after the first treatment and of drawing up a thermal map of the patient's body areas, which will be viewed by the operator before each treatment session to understand both on which areas the treatment should be concentrated more on the basis of the pathology to be treated and to configure the dedicated software with the necessary range of values.

It is therefore a specific object of the present invention to develop an effective medical apparatus including the relative dedicated software, capable of realizing the benefits deriving from a combined magnetotherapy treatment and a compressive microvibration treatment of the tissues in the treatment or alleviation of aesthetic disorders resulting from cellulite.

A further and more general object is to be able to realize a combined magnetotherapy and compressive microvibration treatment of the tissues capable of being advantageously used in the improvement of disorders associated with vascular hemodynamics, the increase in interstitial fibrous tissue, lymphatic stasis and lymphedema, to painful states resulting from edematous conditions.

Other features of the present invention are described in the following detailed description of one or more specific embodiments thereof, protected by the various dependent claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It will be immediately apparent that innumerable variations and modifications (for example relating to shape, dimensions, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) may be made to what has been described without departing from the scope of the invention as appears in the appended claims.

In fact, with the present invention, a new and/or alternative solution to the solutions known thus far is proposed and in particular it is proposed to remedy one or more of the drawbacks or problems referred to above, and/or to satisfy one or more requirements felt in the art, and in particular inferrable from the foregoing.

The various figures therefore show a magnetotherapy and compressive microvibration apparatus for the tissues comprising a handpiece100consisting of a head portion200, a body300and a handle400.

As specifically shown inFIG.2, said handpiece100in the head portion200and in the body300has a recess adapted to house a rotor500adapted to carry out work in the radial direction with respect to the axis of the access hole made on said head portion200. Said rotor500, as shown inFIG.3, is shaped like a hollow cylinder, which on the lateral surface has a plurality of balls510inserted through the longitudinal central channels516(seeFIG.6) on pins520, so as to allow free rotation on themselves, in which each pin520is common to at least four balls510and in which the axis of rotation of the balls510and of the rotor500coincides with that of insertion into the recess of the handpiece100and in which said pins520are constrained respectively to a head ring nut530and to a ring nut of the handle540. Said ring nut of the handle540, shown specifically inFIG.2, comprises a central fitting system adapted to be inserted on a rotation mechanism560forming part of an electric motor600(seeFIG.5) housed within said handle400and in which said electric motor600is connected via isolating support means420and clamping means410to a cable700connected in turn to a computer terminal (not shown).

The rotation of the rotor500is such as to cause the passive rotation of each individual ball510on itself, every time it slides on the patient's tissue, through a rectangular opening310shown inFIG.2and made on said body300of the handpiece100. As shown inFIGS.1A and5, on the body300of the handle100in a position opposite to that of the rectangular opening310, an interface is made comprising a display320, a plurality of indicators330and a plurality of buttons340.

With reference toFIG.4, the head portion200comprises a flange220, in which one face of the same is adapted to allow the rotation of said head ring nut530(FIG.2) while the other face is constrained to a plug210of the handpiece. Said cap210is removable and is connected to the head portion200of the handpiece100through at least a common pair of reversible connection systems230and therefore capable of being removed to allow easy extraction of the rotor500after each session to replace it or for related sanitization.

A specific feature of the present invention is that of comprising the balls510made of an elastomeric material having different degrees of elasticity and which, as shown in detail inFIGS.2,3and6A-B, have a particular internal structure consisting of multiple longitudinal internal channels515made in parallel around said longitudinal central channel516.

The association of said elastomeric property with the presence of said longitudinal internal channels515is adapted to give said balls510well-defined viscoelastic properties and exploited to absorb in a calibrated manner part of the energy transferred by the handpiece100on the patient's body area being treated. As shown inFIG.3, another innovative feature derives from the fact that the creation of rows with balls510each having the same viscoelastic property associated with the presence in the rotor of at least a row of rigid balls518(seeFIG.3) without said longitudinal internal channels515and therefore capable of exerting a hypercompressive effect with respect to the analogous balls510, gives the inventive device the ability to produce certain compressive harmonic waves amplified on the body area being treated, in addition to the classic compressive effect already existing in the art. Therefore, it is intuitive to consider that the frequency, duration and shape of said compressive harmonic waves also derive directly from the arrangement of said rows of balls510having viscoelastic properties associated with the presence of at least a row of rigid balls518.

It forms a further specific feature of the present invention that of comprising in the cavity of said rotor500an inducer device800, specifically shown inFIGS.1B,2and4, consisting of at least a solenoid with a cylindrical shape, which engages a rotary bearing810through one end (FIG.4) which in turn is connected to said head ring nut530. The presence of said inducer device800inside the handpiece100is an aspect which particularly characterizes the present invention, since it allows obtaining a combined magnetotherapy treatment and a compressive microvibration treatment of the tissues.

Another specific feature of the present invention shown inFIGS.1A and2is that of making a pressure sensor900on the cap210of the handpiece adapted to detect the pressure of the rotor500exerted by the balls510on the tissue of the patient undergoing therapy. Also, said pressure sensor900results, through a connection device910consisting of a connector provided with a plurality of pins (FIGS.2and4), in connection with an electronic control unit750(FIG.1). A further specific feature of the present invention as shown inFIG.5, is to provide said handpiece with a revolution sensor950located near the rotation mechanism560and adapted to detect the revolutions of the rotor in real time and therefore to send the data to said electronic control unit750, which it is controlled by the computer terminal by means of a wiring system, which passes through said cable700.

Specifically, a fundamental feature of the invention relates to the fact that said device inventively presents a mechanism for adjusting the intensity of the device according to the resistance encountered on the tissue and therefore relating to the presence of more or less incompressible fibrous areas and which represent an unequivocal sign of cellulite areas. In other words, the dedicated system of pressure900and revolution950sensors is adapted to ensure that, by placing the handpiece on the dermis only with its weight, the mechanical resistance encountered by the rotor balls while sliding on the patient's tissue is detected, thus detecting the type of normal, edematous or fibrous tissue with which the balls are in contact and therefore autonomously regulating the intensity of the device according to the detected resistance.

A particularly preferred embodiment intended to speed up the exchange between the numerous data in real time detected by said sensors of the handpiece100and the computer terminal consists of a wireless connection obtained via a wireless card housed in said electronic control unit750of the handpiece100.

Said electronic control unit750is located close to and behind the interface and in addition manages the power supply to said inductor device800through said connection device910. Another innovative concept underlying the present invention provides for the presence at the area of the body300of the handpiece100, specifically comprised between the handle400and the rectangular opening310, of a temperature sensor760shown inFIGS.2and4, also connected to the electronic control unit750, capable of detecting the temperature of the patient's integumentary apparatus and therefore of detecting areas of greater or lesser blood perfusion.

A further aspect, on the sidelines of all the technical solutions described up to now, but of particular relevance in the implementation of the invention, concerns the creation and development of a multiplicity of programs used in the data processing system and which create a software specially developed by the inventors, capable of being able to best and effectively perform all the functions deriving from the technical features described up to now.

For this purpose, said dedicated software is able to assist the operator in real time by showing through said display320and said indicators330both the pressure exerted in real time by the rotor500and therefore exerted by the balls510on the patient's tissue undergoing treatment and detected by said pressure sensor900, and the number of revolutions of the rotor500detected in real time by the revolution sensor950and the tissue temperature of the patient detected by the temperature sensor760.

Said dedicated software via the buttons340of the interface is adapted to allow the operator to be able to instantly vary all those parameters set at the origin of the session in the computer terminal on the basis of a standard basic setting or on the basis of the data present in the memory and obtained from the previous sessions of a specific patient. Specifically, the parameters set at the start of the session in the computer terminal are the speed of the rotor, the intensity of the impulses of the inductor and the feedback mechanism which links the automatic variation of the speed of the rotor on the basis of the temperature values detected on the body areas and the resistance that the balls encounter during contact with the patient's tissue.

Obviously what has just been described is optimized through the use of an application which allows prompt initial recognition achieved by attributing to the patient himself a unique recognition QR detected by a reader of the computer terminal. In fact, once the patient has been identified, said computer terminal will analyze the data stored, possibly also interfacing with a data center and therefore allowing for optimization of the treatment, as these surveys can be sent remotely to the various scientific or medical consultants, who can issue additional diagnoses or prescriptions to the patient himself.

The set of programs used in the data processing system and which implements the dedicated software includes a program capable of analyzing the data detected by the temperature sensor760during treatment and of drawing up on the computer terminal connected to said handpiece100a thermal map of the patient's body areas, which will be viewed by the operator before or during each treatment session, to understand both on which areas he/she will have to focus more on the basis of the pathology to be treated and to perform the initial setting of the software dedicated to the range of values he/she deems necessary.

It is therefore a specific object of the present invention to develop an effective medical apparatus including the relative dedicated software, capable of realizing the benefits deriving from a combined magnetotherapy treatment and a compressive microvibration treatment of the tissues in the treatment or alleviation of aesthetic disorders resulting from cellulite and all this through a non-invasive treatment and therefore suitable for all ages and not least without any contraindication.

A further and more general object is to be able to realize a combined magnetotherapy and compressive microvibration treatment of the tissues capable of being advantageously used in the improvement of disorders associated with vascular hemodynamics, the increase in interstitial fibrous tissue, lymphatic stasis and lymphedema, to painful states resulting from edematous conditions, all obtainable with a few applications.

Of course, the data provided herein are purely illustrative and absolutely non-limiting of the scope of the present invention, since they serve exclusively to enable a person skilled in the art to understand some possible applications and embodiments of the invention. Therefore, from the foregoing it is clear that the inventive concept is adaptable to the particular needs of each individual case and that therefore different modifications can be made to the above description without departing from its scope of protection as defined by the following dependent claims.