JPH10314319A - Electric therapeutic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To treat osteoporosis, broken bone and the like handily at home or other places by a method wherein a human body to be treated is sandwiched by a pair of electrodes constituted of a conductor covered with an insulating material to let an alternating current flow to a bone part and an alternating current is applied between the electrodes. SOLUTION: In a structure of an electrode pad 25, insulation electrodes 2a or insulation electrodes 2a' are buried respectively into a coverlet 26 and a sleeping mat 27. The surfaces of the insulation electrodes 2a and 3a are covered with a resin film, a resin paint or the like. That is, metal parts of the insulation electrodes 2a and 2a' contact a living being through an insulating body. In the treatment using this electrode pad 25, a patient is laid between the coverlet 26 and the sleeping mat 27 to position an affected part 28 between the insulation electrodes 2a and 2a'. As a result, a bone enters an electric field made by the electrodes 2a and 2a' and a current flows through the bone. Thus, current can flow through the bone with a simple structure simply by mounting the insulation electrodes 2a and 2a' in bedding for domestic use.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrotherapy device, and more particularly to an electrotherapy device useful for treating osteoporosis and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Bone consists of collagen fibers and apatite crystals, and there is an electric dipole in which the oxygen in the carboxyl group of the protein constituting the collagen fibers is negative and the hydrogen is positive. When an external force is applied to these, distortion occurs, and a potential difference is caused by losing a potential balance, and a current flows.

[0003] In this way, a low-frequency alternating current is generated by a mechanical stimulus caused by a motion such as walking or running. The formation of callus due to the stimulation of such alternating current,
It can be seen from the development of the skeleton of sportsmen and manual workers.

[0004] It can also be seen from the fact that a large callus is formed by applying a mechanical stimulus to the fractured part during fracture treatment. Conversely, this phenomenon can be understood from the fact that the bone is lost when staying in the zero-gravity space and the porosity of the bone occurs in the bedridden state.

[0005]

By utilizing such a phenomenon, an electric therapy device for applying an electric current to a bone has been conventionally used for treating intractable fractures. There are several types of these conventional electrotherapy devices. Hereinafter, these will be briefly described.

(I) Invasive treatment method In this method, two electrodes are inserted into a fracture by a surgical technique, and a DC or AC voltage is applied between the electrodes to flow a weak current through the fracture. However, in this method, since the operation of inserting the electrode into the affected part is performed, the burden on the patient is large, there is a risk of bacterial infection from the electrode insertion part, and furthermore, the electrode is damaged due to newly formed callus and the like. There is.

(Ii) Non-invasive treatment method This non-invasive treatment method is further classified into two. a) Capacitively coupled electric field method
In this method, two electrodes are attached to the skin on the surface of the fracture, and a 60,000 Hz alternating current (Brighton method) is applied between the electrodes.
1982).

In this method, the burden on the patient is small, but the skin electrode must be adhered onto the skin while maintaining conductivity, and it cannot cope with a large bone as in the case of pelvic treatment.

B) Induced Current Method In this method, a magnetic field is created by a coil, and an induced current (Faraday's electromagnetic response) based on the time variation of the magnetic field is caused to flow to the fracture affected area. Even with this method, the burden on the patient is small, but there are drawbacks such as the need for a large-capacity power supply and a heavy electromagnet in order to allow a sufficient induced current to flow through the fractured site.

[0010] By the way, there is a thought that the above-mentioned electrotherapy for fractures is also applied to osteoporosis.
However, in such a case, it is necessary to apply an electric current to a bone part having a much larger area and volume than in the case of fracture treatment. It cannot be used for

The present invention has been made under such a background, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electric therapy apparatus which can easily treat osteoporosis and fractures even at home.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electrotherapy device which increases the density and strength of a bone portion and is particularly useful for treating osteoporosis. Wherein a human body to be treated is sandwiched between a pair of electrodes made of a conductor covered with an insulator, and an alternating voltage is applied between the electrodes so that an alternating current can flow through the bone. And

Further, in the invention according to claim 2,
In the electrotherapy device according to the first aspect, the alternating current also flows as a displacement current inside a bone as an insulator.

Further, in the invention according to claim 3,
In the electrotherapy device according to claim 1, the alternating current flows inside the bone to be treated, and the magnitude of the current is 1 to 1.
It is characterized by being 00 μA / cm ² .

[0015] In the invention according to claim 4,
2. The electrotherapy device according to claim 1, wherein the size of the pair of electrodes is such that the electric field formed between the electrodes has sufficient strength at the location of the bone to be treated and the location of the bone. It has a size enough to generate a current of 1 to 100 μA / cm ² throughout.

Further, in the invention according to claim 5,
2. The electrotherapy device according to claim 1, wherein the AC voltage and the AC frequency applied between the pair of electrodes are capable of flowing a current of 1 to 100 μA / cm ² over the entire site of the bone to be treated. It is characterized by.

[0017]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electric therapy apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The present invention utilizes the piezoelectric phenomenon of bone, and uses an improved method of the capacitive coupling electric field method.

In the present invention, first, a bone having a larger area and a larger volume than in the case of fracture treatment must be treated. Therefore, instead of the method of attaching the skin electrode to the skin while maintaining electrical adhesion as used in the conventional capacitive coupling electric field method, treatment is performed with a pair of electrodes covered with an insulator. An AC voltage is applied between a pair of electrodes with a human body in between.

Since the electrode insulated in this manner does not need to be brought into close contact with the human body, a large electrode can be used, for example, when the entire lumbar region is to be treated. In addition, by using the insulated electrode, it is not necessary to attach the skin electrode on the skin, and a convenient electrotherapy device can be configured so that it can be easily used at home.

Second, in the treatment of osteoporosis to which the present invention is applied, the inside and outside of the bone are electrically insulated, unlike the treatment of fracture. For this reason, in a method using a skin electrode like the conventional capacitive coupling electric field method, it is not possible to flow a current inside the bone.

Therefore, a current flows through the inside of the bone in the form of a displacement current by using an insulating electrode. FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an equivalent circuit of a current flowing through a bone. In general, a current i flowing through a medium is composed of a conduction current _ic and a displacement current _id, and is expressed as follows. i = _ic + _id ... (1)

[0022] The conduction current i _c is the current flowing in a conductor, the conductivity sigma, represented as when the electric field strength _{E i c = σE ··· (2} ).

One of the displacement currents _id is a dielectric (insulator).
Medium is this the current flowing through, is expressed as i _d = ∂ When the dielectric constant ε (εE) / ∂t ··· ( 3).

In this case, in the case of an AC electric field, E (t) = E _o · exp (jωt) (4) where j is a pure imaginary number, ω = 2πf, f is frequency, exp
(N) is if intended to mean n-th power of the base of the natural logarithm, and _{i d = jεE ··· (5)} .

[0025] That is, phase differ by [pi / 2 are the displacement current i _d and the conduction current i _c. Using this phase difference, i _c and i _d
Can be measured separately. Equations (2) and (3) above
Wherein it is as defined and i _c and i _d for successive medium.

[0026] Therefore, considering this in the equivalent circuit shown in FIG. 1, each of the i _c and _{i d, i c = V /} R (V electromotive force or _{potential) ··· (6) i d =} ωCV (C is the capacitance of the capacitor) (7), and the displacement current _id is a current flowing through the capacitor C.

Furthermore the ratio between the displacement current i _d and the conduction current i _{c is, i d / i c = ωCR} ··· (8) above the conductivity sigma, the dielectric constant epsilon, the resistance R and capacitance C
Has a large frequency dependence in the case of living tissue.

[0028] Thus, among the current flowing in the living body, in order to know the displacement current i _d and the conduction current i _c is, electric resistance R of the living body, or must examine the frequency dependency or the like of the capacitance C.

[0029] Therefore, first, a current actually flowing through the interior of the bone at the time of giving an electric field to a living body, the ratio of the current flowing through the external bone, and the frequency ratio of the conduction current i _c the displacement current i _d The required measurement was performed every time.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration relating to the above-described measurement. FIG. 2A shows a case where an electrode is brought into contact with raw bone, and FIG. The case where the electrodes are brought into contact is shown.

In FIG. 2A, reference numeral 1 denotes an AC power supply,
A constant voltage alternating current having a frequency of approximately 100 Hz to 40 MHz is output. Reference numerals 2 and 2 ′ denote electrodes using a metal plate approximately 20 mm square.

In the example shown here, the electrodes 2, 2 'are brought into contact with the surface of the raw bone 3a, and the current flowing between the electrodes 2, 2' is measured by the impedance analyzer 4.
In FIG. 2B, the measurement is performed by inserting insulating plastic films 5, 5 (for example, a resin wrapping material) between the electrodes 2, 2 ′ and the raw bone 3a.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the admittance obtained as a result of such a measurement. A ₁ and B ₁ represent the susceptance ωC ₁ when the electrodes 2 and 2 are brought into direct contact with the raw bone 3a, respectively. Alternatively, the figure shows the conductance R ^- ₁₁ .

A_TwoAnd B_TwoAre plastic
The electrodes 2 and 2 are brought into contact with the raw bone 3a via the film 5 and 5
Susceptance ωC_TwoOr conductor
R ^-1 _TwoIs shown.

In the case of that shown in FIG. 2 (a), over the entire frequency region, towards the conductance R ^-1 ₁ by conduction current i _c is larger than the displacement current i _d by susceptance .omega.C _1. Since bone is generally considered to be an insulator, it can be seen that in this case most of the current flows outside the bone and hardly flows into the bone.

When the inside of the bone is completely insulated from the outside of the bone as in osteoporosis, almost no current flows in the bone in this example. Therefore, the treatment form shown in FIG. 2A is not suitable for treating osteoporosis. In addition,
The capacitively coupled electric field method described in ii) (a) above corresponds to this case, and in this method, almost no current flows in the bone.

In the case shown in FIG. 2B, the displacement current is about ten times the conduction current in the low and medium frequency range. This means that in this frequency region, 90% of the total current flows in the bone,
This means that only 10% flow outside the bone. But about 1
In the frequency region of MHz or more, the displacement current and the conduction current are substantially the same, and the current flowing in the bone and the current flowing outside the bone are substantially the same.

From the above measurement results, in order to allow most of the current to flow into the bone, the electrodes 2, 2 'and the bone were insulated by insulators such as plastic films 5, 5. It can be said that it is desirable to use an insulated electrode.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the frequency dependence of the admittance Y rises to the right.
The higher the frequency, the smaller the value of the applied voltage V may be.

In the present embodiment, when the current flowing through the inside of the bone is 10 μA / cm ² , the applied voltage when the frequency is 10 kHz is about 100 V, and when the frequency is 27 MHz, the applied voltage is about 100 mV. This numerical value is derived by converting the measured value of the above-mentioned outline into the case of a human body.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electric configuration of the electric therapy apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a front view showing a configuration of an operation panel 20 in the embodiment.

In FIG. 4, the AC power supplied to the electrotherapy device of the present embodiment is input to a power supply circuit 12 via a power switch 10 and a filter 11. This filter 11 cuts off pulse noise invading from the outside and cuts off high-frequency signal components leaking from the electrotherapy device of the present embodiment.

On the other hand, the power supply circuit 12 includes a transformer, a rectifier circuit,
It is composed of a stabilizing circuit or an oscillating circuit, and receives a supply of AC power to output DC power of a predetermined voltage. The DC power output from the power supply circuit 12 is supplied to the control circuit 13, the oscillation circuit 14, and the like.

The control circuit 13 comprises a circuit (not shown) such as a timer counter and a D / A converter. The control circuit 13 controls the oscillation circuit 14 and the tuning circuit 17 according to an instruction from the operation unit 15 (described later), and causes the display unit 16 (described later) to display the measured value of the timer counter.

The oscillation circuit 14 outputs an AC signal having a frequency of 10 kHz to 30 MHz under the control of the control circuit 13. The oscillation circuit 14 includes a crystal oscillation circuit or an LC
Any oscillation circuit such as an oscillation circuit or a read oscillation circuit may be used.

The AC signal output from the oscillation circuit 14 is input to the tuning circuit 17. The tuning circuit 17 includes, for example, a resonance circuit having a diode switch and a variable capacitance diode, an amplification circuit, and the like. The tuning circuit 17 extracts an AC signal that resonates at a frequency specified by the control circuit 13, and receives an instruction from the control circuit 13. Amplified by the gain and output.

The AC signal output from the tuning circuit 17 is
Through the output terminal 18 (see FIG. 5), the insulating electrodes 2a, 2a
Is supplied to an electrode pad 25 (described later) having the above-mentioned formula, and is applied between the insulating electrodes 2a and 2a '.

The switches and the like constituting the operation unit 15 are arranged on the operation panel 20 as shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 21 denotes an output ON / OFF.
The switch turns on / off an AC signal output from the output terminal 18.

Reference numerals 23 and 24 denote a frequency changeover switch and an intensity changeover switch, respectively. The frequency changeover switch 23 switches the frequency of the AC signal to either L (low frequency side) or H (high frequency side).

The intensity switch 24 is connected to the output terminal 1
A switch for switching the amplitude of the AC signal output from the switch 8, and switches between weak (small amplitude), medium (medium amplitude) or strong (large amplitude).

Reference numerals 22a and 22b are time setting switches. The time setting switches 22a and 22b are
The treatment time is set in the timer counter of the control circuit 13 described above. That is, the time setting switch 22
Pressing “a” increases the set time, and pressing the time setting switch 22b shortens the set time.

Thus, the time setting switches 22a, 22b
Is displayed on the display unit 16. The display unit 16 includes, for example, a plurality of 7-segment LEs.
D, etc., and the time (hours,
Minutes).

That is, the control circuit 13 causes the display 16 to display the set treatment time. In this embodiment, the time is reduced by one minute, and when the number displayed on the display 16 becomes "0", The output of the AC signal from the output terminal 18 is stopped.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing an example of the structure of the electrode pad 25. As shown in FIG. In this example, as shown in FIG. 6, an insulating electrode 2a or an insulating electrode 2a 'is embedded in a comforter 26 and a mattress 27, respectively.

The surfaces of the insulating electrodes 2a, 2a 'are covered with a plastic film, a resin paint or the like. That is, the metal parts of the insulated electrodes 2a and 2a 'contact the living body via the insulator.

In the treatment using the electrode pad 25 shown in FIG. 6, the bone is laid between the comforter 26 and the mattress 27 so that the affected part 28 is located between the insulated electrodes 2a and 2a '. Into the electric field created by 2a '
Electric current flows through the bone.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, with a simple configuration in which the insulated electrode is simply attached to the bedding for home use, the electrode is brought into contact with the affected part to flow an electric current through the bone, and the bone is easily and easily applied to the bone. Treatment of osteoporosis and the like can be performed.

FIG. 7 is a structural view showing another example of the electrode pad 25. FIG. 7 (a) is a plan view, and FIG. 7 (b) is a perspective view at the time of treatment. In this example, as shown in FIG. 7A, the insulation electrodes 2a, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d are placed at a predetermined distance 1 on one surface (inner surface) of a belt 29 made of cloth or leather.
a 'is attached. This distance 1 is determined by the outer peripheral length of the affected part 28 such as a foot. Specifically, the distance l
Is approximately 概 of the outer peripheral length of the affected part 28.

A fastener 30 is attached to one end of the inner surface of the belt 29 so as to be attracted to and fixed to a part of the outer surface of the belt 29 when the belt 29 is wound around an affected part 28 such as a foot. I have.

As shown in FIG. 7B, when the belt 29 is wound around the affected part 28 such as a foot, the insulating electrode 2a and the insulating electrode 2a 'face each other, and the affected part 28 (bone) is interposed therebetween.
, The treatment can be performed effectively without any deviation.

The values of the voltage, current and frequency described in the above embodiment are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these values. Further, the present invention can be implemented even if the material of the insulator covering the surfaces of the insulating electrodes 2a and 2a 'is other than the material described in the above embodiment.

Furthermore, osteoporosis has been mentioned as an example of a symptom targeted for treatment according to the present embodiment, but the present invention can also be used for treatment of fracture, headache, insomnia, chronic constipation or stiff shoulder. .

[0063]

As described above, according to the present invention, a human body to be treated is sandwiched between a pair of electrodes made of a conductor covered with an insulator so that an alternating current can flow through a bone. , An AC voltage is applied between the electrodes. As a displacement current, an alternating current is also applied to the inside of a bone as an insulator. In addition, the magnitude of the current is 1 to 100 μA / cm ² . 1
The size of the pair of electrodes is such that the electric field created between them has sufficient strength at the location of the bone to be treated and produces a current of 1-100 μA / cm ² over the location of the bone. Size. Further, the AC voltage and the AC frequency applied between the pair of electrodes are such that a current of 1 to 100 μA / cm ² can be passed over the entire site of the bone to be treated, so that osteoporosis and An effect is obtained that an electric therapy device capable of performing a treatment such as a fracture can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an equivalent circuit of a current flowing through a bone.

FIG. 2 is a connection diagram showing a configuration for measuring a current flowing through a bone.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing admittance obtained as a result of measuring a current flowing through a bone.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the electric therapy apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a configuration of an operation panel 20 according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing an example of a configuration of an electrode pad 25 according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing another example of the electrode pad 25 in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2a Insulated electrode (electrode) 2a 'Insulated electrode (electrode)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An electrotherapy device which increases the density and strength of a bone portion and is particularly useful for treating osteoporosis, and comprises a conductor covered with an insulator so that an alternating current can flow through the bone portion. An electrotherapy device characterized in that a human body to be treated is sandwiched between a pair of electrodes (2a, 2a ') and an AC voltage is applied between the electrodes. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the alternating current also flows as a displacement current inside a bone as an insulator.
An electrotherapy device according to claim 1. 3. The electrotherapy device according to claim 1, wherein the alternating current flows inside the bone to be treated, and the magnitude of the current is 1 to 100 μA / cm ² . 4. The size of the pair of electrodes is such that the electric field formed between the electrodes is sufficiently strong at the location of the bone to be treated and is 1 to 1 throughout the location of the bone.
^2. The electrotherapy device according to claim 1, wherein the electrotherapy device has a size enough to generate a current of 100 μA / cm ² . 5. The AC voltage and AC frequency applied between the pair of electrodes is capable of passing a current of 1-100 μA / cm ² over the bone site to be treated. 2. The electrotherapy device according to 1.