Therapeutic electrostatic device

Abstract: The present invention provides a non-invasive body contacting device (2) for effecting electrostatic therapy to selected points of the body. The device (2) comprises a first electrical current conductive pin-like element (8) and at least one further current conductive member (6) disposed in proximity to the element (8). At least the body facing surfaces of the element (8) and the member (6) are provided with current insulating material (10) and wherein the element (8) and the member (6) are provided with means (12-18) connectable to a low power source (30).

Description: The present invention relates to a device and an apparatus for the stimulation and sedation of nerves and more particularly, to a device and electronic apparatus for effecting electrostatic therapy to selected points of a body, which may include acupuncture points. Body treatment by acupuncture technique is ancient. The newer developments in this field are based in the classical acupuncture practice of the insertion of needles at the known acupuncture points and the stimulation of the nerves by manually vibrating the needles with the modification that the vibrations are now effected by various more sophisticated means such as pulsating electric currents. While this method of treatment has been reported as being effective in, e.g., pain relieving, such transcutaneous nerve stimulation methods inherently possess the risks of causing damage to the body due to accidental bending or breakage of a needle tip and other known dangers. There was, therefore, developed a new system of treatment, known as electromagnetic acupuncture, whereby strong magnetic fields are externally applied to body parts, the theory being that these magnetic fields interact with the body's inner electrical field and generate currents. Only when the generated magnetic field reached a certain intensity, results, such as local analgesia, were observed. Thus this method of magnetic and electromagnetic treatments suffers from the disadvantage of the need to use relatively high electrical and/or magnetic energy which is, of course, undesired in all aspects. In the prior art German Publications DE 3,218,843 and 2,928,826, there are disclosed devices for effecting therapy at acupuncture points of a body to be treated, utilizing an electrode connectable to a pulse generator. The surface of the electrode adapted to contact the user's body is bare and makes direct contact with the flesh of the body. This is undesirable and may have an adverse effect. It is therefore a broad object of the present invention to ameliorate the disadvantages of the prior art methods of acupuncture therapy and to provide means for effecting stimulation and sedation of nerves of the body by applying an electrostatic field generated by low voltage to selected points of a body. According to the present invention there is provided an electrode device for applying to a living body surface, comprising an electrical current conductive element configured to have a surface with a restricted cross-sectional area and including an electrical terminal means, an electrical current conductive member having a first surface and a second surface, and an electrical terminal means located on said second surface, and means for supporting said element and said member in proximity to each other, characterized in that to each of said element and conductive member there are affixed current insulating materials, which form a surface adapted for applying to the body surface contact with selected points on said living body surface. The invention will now be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments with reference to the following illustrative figures so that it may be more fully understood. With specific reference now to the figures in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice. In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of a device according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view along line II-II of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of a second embodiment of a device according to the invention; Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a self-contained apparatus for use in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of an electronic unit including the device of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a plan view of an auricular assembly incorporating the device or electric unit according to the invention; Fig. 7 is a plan view of an assembly for positioning the device according to the invention, and Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the assembly of Fig. 7 with the device 2 ghosted in. There is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 a preferred embodiment of a non-invasive body contacting device 2, for effecting electrostatic therapy to acupuncture points of a body part 4. The device consists of a current conductive annular disk 6 and a centrically located current conductive pin-like element 8. The body facing surfaces of the disk 6 and the element 8 are covered with current insulating material 10. The material 10 should be non absorbent to moisture, sweat or water, so as to avoid any loss of current insulation capability during use. Electrical wires 12 and 14 are respectively connected to the disk 6 and element 8 by means of terminals 16 and 18, and said wires lead to a low power DC source described hereinafter. The various parts of the device may be encased in an electrically insulating housing 20, which housing as shown in Fig. 1, does not cover the body facing insulating material 10, however, in other embodiments may also constitute the insulating material of the element and disk. The advantages of the above described structure of the device 2, mainly reside in the point surface area of the pin-like element 8 relative to the much larger surrounding surface area of the disk 6, which structure facilitates the application of the device to a specific selected point while spreading the induced electrostatic field 22 about the tip of the element 8 through the treated body part 4, surrounding the selected point as shown. Since polarization effect, namely, the aplication to a body of electrodes connected to a source of electrical energy, is proportional to the potential gradient of the tangented component of the field produced by the electrodes, it is usually desired that the gap between the pin-like element 8 and the disk 6 be minimized. Thus with the application of a relatively low potential of about, e.g. 0.5 volt to the wires 12 and 14, there have been observed analgesic effects of the treated body part. It should be realised that the disk 6 may be replaced with members of different configurations, e.g., one or more segments of a disk, a plate, a bar or the like. Another convenient structure of a device 2 is illustrated in Fig. 3, however, for the sake of simplicity there is not shown the housing part encasing the inner parts. Here, the centrically disposed pin-like element 8 is surrounded by a current conductive cylinder 24. While the device 2 itself is operatable merely by connecting the same to a low voltage DC source, it should be noted that a proper treatment should take into consideration the various stimulation patterns, namely, the direction and strength of the field, the frequency of the impulses including the interval between trains of impulses and of course, the duration of an applied treatment, the intervals between treatments and the time of day the treatment is administered. Since such treatments have to be periodically repeated the present invention provides an apparatus which is programmable to provide a predetermined stimulation pattern suitable to a specific patient who can, thus, administer the treatment to himself under the guidance of a professional. An example of such an apparatus is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. A DC power supply 30 feeds a programmable timer 32 and an oscillator 34. The timer 32 controls an electronic switch 36 selectively passing impulse signals to a polarity-selection switching unit 38, which unit is responsible for the application of the current signals to the device 2 in a selected direction. The direction of the current flow to the element and member of the device governs the direction of the field induced by the current and in turn, the direction of the field, and is significant to this type of treatment. Therefore, when a plurality of devices 2 are to be simultaneously activated, there may be interconnected between each of the devices and the electronic switch 36 a separate polarity selection switching unit to enable the operator to assign to each of the devices the required polarity for treating a designated selected point. Naturally, further sophistication of the apparatus can be obtained by providing a programmer capable of applying to each of the devices placed on individual selected pints, a pre programmed specific stimulation pattern thus achieving a more complete treatment controlled by a single central programmable apparatus. In order to facilitate the convenient usage of the apparatus, the main functions of which apparatus are illustrated in Fig. 4, the apparatus is advantageously packaged as a compact, small size wrist watch like unit 40, as seen in Fig. 5. The inside of a casing 42, furnished with lugs 44 for facilitating the attachment of straps, is allocated into several compartments. In the bottom side of the casing 42 there is mounted the device 2 of Fig. 1. The intermediate compartment 46 contains the electronic circuits, the functions of which were exemplified in blocks 32, 34 and 36 of Fig. 4. The upper portion of the casing contains a DC power supply in the form of a small battery 48, an optional LCD display 50 and control buttons 52 for entering the desired program of the stimulation pattern as explained hereinbefore. The button 54 may be used for the function of polarity selection. The unit 40 may thus be manually applied to any chosen point and held in place for the duration of the treatment or alternatively, may be removably attached to the region of treatment on the body. There are, however, places on the body where it is very difficult to strap on the unit or wear it and where important selected points exist. Also, in cases in which treatments are often or even continuously required, the present invention provides for a convenient way of effecting electrostatic therapy by the incorporation of the device or several devices 2, or even entire units 40 into a body part shaped covering for example a glove, a stocking or the like, which covering can be worn by the user. In Fig. 6 there is illustrated an auricular assembly 56 comprising a molded ear shaped body attachment having a hearing tunnel 50 and two locations 60 and 62 for holding suitably configured entire units 40 or merely devices 2, operatable from a central control unit located at another place. The devices 2 are strategically oriented to make contact with a selected point which can thus be automatically stimulated at any time of day and night. The treatment of selected points of the body, or acupuncture treatment, demands an exact positioning of the centre of the device 2 on the skin to the selected point. The selected points are usually found by commercially available tracers and marked by water soluble ink before the attachment of the device. In order to facilitate the exact positioning of the device on the skin, there is proposed the assembly illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8. As seen in these figures, a layer 64 of flexible, transparent, electrically isolative material having on one of its sides adhesive material and provided on the other side with rigid a ring 66 attached to the transparent layer 64. The ring 66 has at least two spring-type catches 68. The centre of the ring is marked on the surface of the transparent layer by a point 70. The layer 64 is affixed onto a skin surface in such a way, so that the centre of the ring 66 fits over the designated selected point. The layer 64 is then glued to the skin surface and the device 2 is inserted inside the ring (active side of the device facing the layer) and latched by the catches 68.

Claims: An electrode device (2) for applying to a living body (4) surface, comprising an electrical current conductive element (8) configured to have a surface with a restricted cross-sectional area and including an electrical terminal means (16), an electrical current conductive member (6,24) having a first surface and a second surface, and an electrical terminal means (18) located on said second surface, and means (20) for supporting said element (8) and said member (6) in proximity to each other, characterized in that to each of said element (8) and conductive member (6,24) there are affixed current insulating materials (10) which form a surface adapted for applying to the body surface selected points on said living body surface (4). The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the surface area of said member (6) is larger than the cross-sectional area of said element (8). The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said element (8) is a pin-like element. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said member (6) is a plate. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said member (6) is at least a segment of an annular disk (24) and said element (8) is located in its center. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said member (6) is in the form of a cylinder and said element (8) is located along its axis. The device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a housing (20) encasing major portions of the non-body facing surfaces of said element (8) and said member (6). The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising attachment means (42) for removably affixing said electrode device (2) onto a user's body part. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a body attachment (56) incorporating a plurality of electrode devices, said body attachment being configured to substantially correspond to the configuration of a living body surface portion when worn by a user, said devices (2) being embedded in said attachment at preselected locations, with said insulating material (10) forming a surface adapted for body contact. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, further comprising switch means (38) for selectively connecting each of said devices to a pulse generator in a predetermined polarity. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising electrical circuit means for application of current to said element (8) and member (6) for generating electrostatic fields in the region where body contact is made; said circuit means including a battery (48) activating a pulse generator (58), and switch means (52) for selecting the polarity of the interconnection between said battery (48) and the terminal means (2,16 and 14,18) of said element (8) and member (6). The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein said circuit means further include a programmable timer (32) for initiating the operations of the device (2) at preselected time intervals and for setting the durations of time of each of said operations.

Inventors: KITOV ZEEV, KITOV, ZEEV
Applicants: THERI TECK INC, THERI-TECK INC.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: A61N1
IPC codes: A61N1