Patent ID: 8287474

Claim:
A method for passive physical exercise of a patient, the method being for exercising to gradually increase the elasticity of arteries, veins and adjacent muscles of a portion of a patient's body located in a vacuum chamber remote from the heart, to gradually reduce heart workload, to gradually increase whole body blood flow, to gradually provide more oxygen and nutrients to the cells of the whole body, to gradually increase a rate of removal of cell waste products, to treat a patient's diseases and conditions throughout the body, to prevent or slow the progression of diseases and conditions throughout the body and to provide other passive exercise benefits throughout the body, the method consisting essentially of: a) providing a vacuum chamber, the vacuum chamber being configured for receiving a portion of a patient's body that is remote from the heart, the chamber being depressurizable; b) providing a vacuum source, the vacuum source being configured for inducing a negative pressure in the vacuum chamber; c) locating a portion of a patient's body remote from the heart in the vacuum chamber; d) causing the vacuum source to induce a negative pressure on the portion of the patient's body remote from the patient's heart; e) causing the vacuum source to relieve the negative pressure to return the pressure in the vacuum chamber to ambient pressure after a predetermined period of time; f) inducing and relieving the negative pressure a sufficient number of times to provide passive physical exercise and gradually increase the elasticity of the arteries, veins, and adjacent muscles of the portion of the patient's body remote from the heart located in the vacuum chamber, to gradually reduce heart workload, to gradually increase whole body blood flow, to gradually provide more oxygen and nutrients to the cells of the whole body, to gradually increase the rate of removal of cell waste products, to treat the patient's diseases and conditions throughout the body, to prevent or slow the progression of diseases and conditions throughout the body and to provide other passive exercise benefits throughout the patient's body; and g) inducing and relieving the negative pressure independent of the patient's heartbeat.