Patent Publication Number: US-2022211565-A1

Title: Treatment table

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to a treatment table, and to be more detailed, it relates to a treatment table used preferably for the manual therapy of a patient&#39;s lower back. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Known as a conventional treatment table used for the chiropractic therapy is a Thompson table disclosed in Patent Document 1 (e.g., Patent Document 1). The Thompson table has divided parts corresponding to the face, chest, lower back, and legs of a patient lying down, where the parts corresponding to the chest, lower back, etc. are made as drop parts that can individually move up or down. By this configuration, a treatment can be performed by lifting up any of the drop parts and instantaneously pressing the patient&#39;s treated part, thereby dropping the drop part. 
     PRIOR ART 
     
         
         [Patent Doc. 1] U.S. Pat. No. 2,926,660 
       
    
     SUMMARY 
     Subject(s) of the Invention 
     Considered as the main cause of lumbago is a shift of the pair of sacroiliac joints that supports the left and right sides of the pelvis. The weight center of human body resides inside the pelvis, and if a shift occurs to the pair of sacroiliac joints, the weight center line of human body deviates from the proper central axis, thereby a distortion can occur to the whole body. Therefore, it is effective to correct the shift of the sacroiliac joints in treating lumbago. 
     However, in the conventional treatment table mentioned above, because the part supporting the patient&#39;s lower back drops integrally, the pair of sacroiliac joints drops simultaneously including their periphery, making a sufficient correction difficult. 
     Then, the objective of this invention is to offer a treatment table that allows performing an effective lower back treatment with an inexpensive configuration. 
     Means to Solve the Subject(s) 
     The subject is achieved with a treatment table comprising a chest support part and a leg support part that respectively support a chest and legs of a patient while the patient lies on the treatment table, and a lower-back support part that support a lower-back of the patient, and is located between the chest support part and the leg support part, wherein the lower back support part is provided with multiple divided members that are divided in patient&#39;s body-axis and body-width directions, and supporting bodies that support the divided members movably in an up-down direction. 
     In the treatment table, each of the supporting bodies may be provided with a lifting means that raises one of the divided members, and a holding means that holds the raised divided member at a prescribed drop height, the holding means is further provided with an engaging piece that engages with the divided member by a bias force of an elastic member, and when an impact force is applied from above to the raised divided member held by the holding means, the engaging piece and the divided member disengage, thereby the divided member drops. It is preferred that the holding means is configured to be able to select the drop height of the divided member from multiple choices. 
     Advantage(s) of the Invention 
     This invention can offer a treatment table that allows performing an effective lower-back treatment with an inexpensive configuration. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a plan view of a treatment table of an embodiment of this invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view along A-A in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIGS. 4A and 4B  are enlarged cross-sectional views of the main part for explaining the operation of the treatment table of an embodiment of this invention. 
     
    
    
     EMBODIMENT(S) OF THE INVENTION 
     Below, an embodiment of this invention is explained referring to attached drawings.  FIG. 1  is a plan view of a treatment table of the embodiment of this invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the treatment table  1  is provided with a head support part  2 , a chest support part  3 , a lower-back support part  20 , and a leg support part  4  that respectively support the head, chest, lower back, and legs of a patient lying down above a top plate  11  of a table main body  10  formed in a chassis shape. The head support part  2 , the chest support part  3 , the lower-back support part  20 , and the leg support part  4  should preferably be coated with a cushion material (not shown) or the like. 
     The lower-back support part  20  is provided with four divided members  21  that have a rectangular shape in a plan view and are arranged in a matrix shape divided in the body-axis direction (up-down direction in a standing state) and the body-width direction (right-left direction in a standing state) of the patient. The number of the divided members  21  is not particularly limited as far as they are divided in both the body-axis and body-width directions. The divided members  21  only need to be arranged so that the patient&#39;s lower back can be supported by them together, and they can be arranged in another shape such as zigzag than a matrix shape. 
       FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view along A-A in  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the multiple divided members  21  are supported by supporting bodies  30  so that their top parts protrude through penetration holes  11   a  formed on the top plate  11 . The supporting bodies  30  are provided with multiple lifting devices  31  that support the multiple divided members  21  so as to move individually up or down, and holding mechanisms  40  that hold the divided members  21  having risen by the lifting devices  31  at their respectively prescribed heights. The lifting devices  31  and the holding mechanisms  40  are respectively supported by two base plates  12  and  13  placed horizontally inside the table main body  10 . 
     The lifting devices  31  are configured of fluid pressure cylinders such as air cylinders, where the upper ends of rods  31   a  detachably contact the lower faces of the divided members  21 . The lifting devices  31  can be other devices such as jacks or chain blocks that can lift up the divided members  21 , and the drive system can be automatized by utilizing a hydraulic or electrically-powered system other than a manual system. Formed on the divided members  21  are step parts  21   a  that contact the periphery of the penetration holes  11   a  of the top plate  11 , thereby regulating any excessive rise of the divided members  21  by the operation of the lifting devices  31 . 
       FIG. 3  is an enlarged cross-sectional view of one of the divided members  21  shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , the holding mechanisms  40  are provided with standing walls  41  that stand from the base plate  13  so that the rim parts of the supporting bodies  30  slide, and engaging pieces  42  accommodated in accommodating parts  41   a  formed on the standing walls  41 . 
     The engaging pieces  42  each have a cross-sectionally arc-shaped tip part arranged so as to protrude horizontally by a bias force of an elastic member  43  made of a spring or the like, and can hold each of the divided members  21  by engaging with cross-sectionally arc-shaped engaging recesses  21   b  formed on side walls of the divided members  21 . The pressing force of the engaging pieces  42  to the divided members  21  can be adjusted as appropriate by the advancement or retreat of adjusting screws  44 . The specific configuration for the engaging pieces  42  to engage with the divided members  21  by the bias force of the elastic members  43  is not particularly limited, but for example, commercially-available index plungers can be used. 
     Although the engaging pieces  42  are installed corresponding to the rectangular sides of the divided members  21  in this embodiment, their arrangement only needs to allow holding the divided members  21 , and for example, at least one engaging piece  42  can be arranged so as to engage with the mutually-opposing rims of each of the divided members  21 . 
     The multiple engaging recesses  21   b  of the divided members  21  are formed along the height direction to allow holding the divided members  21  while changing their heights by selecting the engaging recesses  21   b  with which the engaging pieces  42  engage. The engaging pieces  42  do not necessarily need to engage with the engaging recesses  21   b , but for example, can engage with the bottom face or protrusions of the divided members  21  as a configuration. 
     By the treatment table  1  provided with the above configuration, while a patient is lying down, from a state where one of the divided members  21  is lifted from below by the rod  31   a  of its lifting device as shown in  FIG. 3 , by lowering the rod  31   a  as shown in  FIG. 4A , the engaging pieces  42  can engage with any set of the engaging recesses  21   b , thereby holding the divided member  21  at a prescribed height. Afterwards, once a downward impact force acts on the divided member  21  by instantaneously pressing the patient&#39;s lower back, as shown in  FIG. 4B , the engaging pieces  42  move against the bias force of the elastic members  43 , thereby the engaging pieces  42  and the divided member  21  disengage, and the divided member  21  drops onto the base plate  13 . In this manner, a force according to the force pressing the patient and the drop height of the divided member  21  can be applied to the patient&#39;s lower back. 
     In the treatment table  1  of this embodiment, the lower-back support part  20  that is arranged between the chest support part  3  and the leg support part  4  and supports the patient&#39;s lower back is provided with divided members  21  divided in the patient&#39;s body-axis and body-width directions, and the divided parts  21  are supported so as to move individually up or down, thereby an impact force acting on the patient&#39;s lower back does not act two-dimensionally in the up-down direction (body-thickness direction) in the individual positions along the body-axis direction as in the past, but acts three-dimensionally by adding the body-width direction to this. Therefore, by appropriately selecting the divided member  21  to be dropped in both the body-axis and body-width directions, the variation of the treatment can be enhanced, and a shift of the left and right of sacroiliac joints etc. can be effectively corrected. 
     Also, as in this embodiment, by adopting the configuration that allows selecting the drop heights of the individual divided members  21  by forming multiple engaging recesses  21   b  with which the engaging pieces  42  engage along the height direction, impact forces accompanying the drops of the individual divided members  21  can be individually set, facilitating a desired treatment. The drop height of any of the divided members  21  can be set by holding the rod  31   a  shown in  FIG. 4A  in a state protruding upward of the base plate  13  and adjusting the protrusion height of this rod  31   a , or this can be combined with the selection of the multiple engaging recesses  21   b . The drop heights of the divided members  21  are not particularly restricted but can be set within a range of about 1030 mm, and if the drop heights are set to two stages for example, it should preferably be configured so as to allow selecting either 15 mm or 30 mm. 
     As to the head support part  2 , the chest support part  3 , and the leg support part  4 , in the same manner as in the lower-back support part  20 , they can also be given a configuration provided with multiple divided members that are divided in the patient&#39;s body-axis and body-width directions and can individually move up or down. 
     LEGEND 
     
         
           1 : Treatment table 
           3 : Chest support part 
           4 : Leg support part 
           20 : Lower-back support part 
           21 : Divided members 
           30 : Supporting bodies 
           31 : Lifting devices 
           40 : Holding mechanisms 
           42 : Engaging pieces 
           43 : Elastic members