Patent ID: 8613715

Claim:
A passive exercise therapy apparatus for imparting to a patient positioned on a bed a controlled rhythmic repetitive exercise motion, to move a limb or limbs or body part of the patient through a prescribed range of motion without stress to the limbs or associated joints of the patient, the exercise therapy apparatus comprising: a frame formed of a pair of arches that are joined in parallel to one another, the frame including a set of horizontally disposed overhead rail members, a pair of risers joined to the overhead rail members at one end thereof, a pair of risers joined to the overhead rail members at their other end, and one or more transverse brace members joining the upper rail members to one another, with the frame defining a patient bed position within the frame in which a patient may be placed for passive exercise; a plurality of guide pulley members disposed at least at upper ends of said risers on said frame; at least one drive cable extending over the guide pulley members on said frame and passing across said overhead rail members above the patient bed position; a drive system positioned on the frame including a gear motor and a drive wheel, the at least one drive cable being attached to and moved by the drive wheel and the at least one drive cable following a loop around the frame through said guide pulley members and connected with the drive wheel to oscillate back and forth as said drive wheel turns; an exercise cable attached onto said at least one drive cable and descending to said patient bed position and adapted to attach to a limb of the patient to move the patient limb through a prescribed passive exercise motion; an adjustably positionable exercise cable carriage movably positioned on the overhead rail members of the frame and said at least one drive cable passing over the adjustably positionable exercise cable carriage as said at least one drive cable follows its loop around the frame, and said adjustably positionable exercise cable carriage carrying at least one guide pulley; said exercise cable passing around said at least one guide pulley of said carriage and descending to said patient bed position; and wherein the drive wheel, the at least one drive cable and the exercise cable being configured so that as the gear motor rotates the drive wheel, the drive wheel imparts a continuous back-and- forth rhythmic motion onto the at least one drive cable traveling over said guide pulley members, with a controlled, rhythmic, repetitive relative motion of the drive cable in respect to the bed so that the exercise cable that is attached to it moves the patient limb through the prescribed range of motion in a controlled rhythmic repetitive fashion.