EP1834621A1

EP1834621A1 - Apparatus for dry thermal hydraulic massage in combination with vibration massage

Info

Publication number: EP1834621A1
Application number: EP07003518A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Giuseppe Peron
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-03-13
Filing date: 2007-02-21
Publication date: 2007-09-19
Anticipated expiration: 2027-02-21
Also published as: EP1834621B1; ITVI20060065A1; ATE427095T1; ES2324120T3; DE602007000792D1

Abstract

Apparatus by which localised massages are carried out for aesthetic use and for the health of the person undergoing the treatment.

The apparatus comprises a mobile container (1) with means (11,14) for producing hot and cold water and with controlled circulation means (16,17,18) for conveying said liquids to a portable massaging head (3).

The massaging head comprises a plurality of button elements (31) moved rhythmically inside a chamber, alternately pulsating on the bottom thereof, consisting of an elastic membrane (34) placed in contact with the patient's skin during the treatment.

Description

The present finding concerns an apparatus for carrying out localised massages for aesthetic use and for a person's health.
The beneficial effects of hydrotherapy on the human body have been known since antiquity.
Water in liquid, solid or steam state can be used to help relaxation, stimulate circulation, eliminate impurities, alleviate pain and slow down the effects of ageing.
In naturopathy, hydrotherapy is used for the treatment of numerous illnesses and ailments: from articular pains to skin diseases.
The first European hydrotherapy centre capable of offering a whole series of treatments was founded by Sebastian Kneipp who has lent his name to a hydrotherapy method still widely used today.
Such a method substantially foresees the use of hot and cold baths, steam baths, cold and hot packs, showers and foot baths associated with a strict eating regime and with regular physical exercise, in order to obtain a beneficial detoxifying effect on the body, as well as noticeable results in the person's appearance.
The initial treatments of the Kneipp method have been followed by others, like hydromassage. Moreover, it is common practice to combine essential oils, clay, seaweed, medicinal herbs and their extracts, salts, etc. with the hot and cold water.
It is also known that vasomotor reactions (vascular contraction or dilation) are not just limited to the vessels located in the region where the hydrotherapy stimuli are applied, but also extend their effect to other more distant regions of the body, according to the so-called reflex reaction.
There are various types of units and apparatuses, in suitable well-equipped treatment and health centres, that allow the teachings of hydrotherapy and of hydromassage to be applied for therapeutic purposes.
In these centres there are swimming pools, showers, steam rooms, machines for performing various types of massages or to carry out wrapping, bandaging and other things.
The main purpose of the present finding is to bring hydrotherapy to health and beauty centres, even small ones, gaining many advantages that are obtainable in lager therapeutic centres, but using an apparatus that is very simple and easy to apply onto various parts of the human body.
Another purpose of the apparatus itself is to allow alternation, even electronically programmed, of the application of either hot water or of cold water.
A further purpose of the apparatus is to allow hydrothermotherapy treatment to also be combined with localised massaging of areas of the human body.
The purposes listed above are accomplished by making an apparatus per localised massages for aesthetic use and for health, which comprises a mobile container of means for producing hot and cold water and of controlled circulation means suitable for conveying said liquids to a portable massaging head, said apparatus, in accordance with the content of the first claim, being characterised in that said mobile container comprises a device for exchanging the rapid alternate circulation of hot and cold water, controlled by means of a programmable electronic apparatus. Said apparatus is also characterised in that said portable massaging head comprises a plurality of button elements moved by an actuator member inside a chamber for circulating the fluids conveyed into the same chamber by said controlled circulation means, said chamber having the lower surface made with an elastic membrane suitable for being deformed from the inside rhythmically by said button elements and suitable for being covered with an interchangeable cover arranged with its outer surface in contact with the patient's skin.
The aforementioned purposes shall be made clearer during the description of a preferred embodiment of the finding in object, given only as a nonlimiting example, represented in the attached tables of drawings, where:

figure 1 schematically shows the devised apparatus when in use;
figure 2 shows the diagram indicating the main components of the devised apparatus;
figure 3 indicatively shows a possible embodiment of the portable massaging head belonging to the same apparatus;
figure 4 shows the same massaging head in section.

The devised apparatus is indicatively shown in figure 1, in the act of being used by an operator for beauty treatment of a person.
It substantially comprises the mobile container 1 of means for producing hot and cold water and of controlled circulation means suitable for placing the aforementioned liquids in a closed circuit, conveying them through the pipes 2 to the portable massaging head 3.
Advantageously, the water circuit is of the closed type and the water is periodically regenerated with anti-fungal and anti-microbe substances. This allows a substantial saving of the water used. In any case, a bleeder valve is foreseen to take care of completely changing the water contained in the hydraulic circuit at regular, even if not frequent, intervals.
Inside the mobile container 1, the components indicatively represented in figure 2 are arranged, i.e.: the boiler 11 with thermoresistance 12 and with thermostat 13 for controlling the temperature of the hot water; the refrigerating apparatus 14 with thermostat 15 for controlling the temperature of the cold water; the device for exchanging the rapid alternate circulation of hot and cold water (described in greater detail hereafter), controlled by means of a programmable electronic apparatus contained in the command and control panel 10 of figure 1.
The aforementioned device for exchanging the alternate circulation of hot and cold water can comprise an electropump 16 with low flow and high head, electrovalves 17 controlled by timers and provided with microswitches for controlling the operation of said electropump, non-return valves 18.
The mobile container 1 can easily be moved and is connected, through the aforementioned pipes 2 for supplying the fluids, to the portable massaging head 3.
Such a head can be interchangeable, taking different shapes and sizes, in relation to the area of the body to be treated.
The same portable massaging head 3 shown as an example in figures 3 and 4 comprises a plurality of button elements 31 moved by an actuator member 32 inside a chamber 33 for circulating the fluids conveyed into the same chamber by the aforementioned controlled circulation means.
The same chamber 33 has the lower surface made with an elastic membrane 34 suitable for being deformed from the inside rhythmically by the button elements 31 and also suitable for being covered with an interchangeable cover 35 arranged with its outer surface in contact with the patient's skin.
The elastic membrane 34 can be made from rubber, elastic plastic, but also metal, for example steel.
The aforementioned plurality of button elements consists of a variable number of small pistons (also indicated with 31) associated with return springs and suitably distributed inside the fluid circulation chamber 33, as for example shown in figures 3 and 4.
The actuator member 32 moves the rotary disc 36 having the lower surface in contact with the heads of the aforementioned small pistons 31 and shaped according to an undulating profile suitable for alternately moving the same small pistons 31 axially.
The undulating profile of the rotary disc 36 determines the type of massage that can be obtained, which can be more or less soft, more or less vibrating, as well as more or less "forceful". Advantageously, the disc 36 can be interchangeable according to the type of massage that one wishes to obtain. The aforementioned actuator member 32 can be a motor fed with compressed air through a suitable pipe 37, as indicated in figure 4, or else an electric motor fed with a low voltage.
With alternative methods the movement of the pistons 31 shall be determined by impulses of pressurised air, deriving from a pneumatic circuit, suitably foreseen, equipped with electrovalves, said circuit being capable of moving the pistons 31 alternately.
The programmable electronic apparatus must allow the selection of the temperatures of the hot and cold water, the time of application of one or the other, and the frequency of alternation of the hydrothermotherapy application.
The control panel of the apparatus must also allow the massage action to be combined, or not, with the aforementioned hydrothermotherapy application, so as to also stimulate the areas of the body treated mechanically.
In conclusion, the devised apparatus could be defined as a "hydrothermostimulator" with portable massaging head that can be applied by contact to predetermined areas of the human body in order to stimulate the body for a beneficial reaction.
The alternate application, even rapidly, of a hot and cold body to some well-defined areas of the human body is, indeed, the basis of the reflexology foreseen by the Kneipp method to obtain beneficial effects in other parts of the body and a general sense of well-being.
Moreover, the possible addition of the massaging action of the portable head enhances the aforementioned phenomenon.
Furthermore, the presence of the interchangeable cover 35, able to the applied to the same massaging head after having been soaked with specific products for health and beauty treatment, allows the person treated to gain the best effects, in relation to their specific requirements.

Claims

- Apparatus for localised massages for aesthetic use and for health comprising a mobile container (1) of means for producing hot water (11) and cold water (14) and of controlled circulation means (16; 17; 18) suitable for conveying said liquids to a portable massaging head (3), characterised in that said mobile container (1) comprises a device for exchanging the rapid alternate circulation of hot and cold water, controlled by means of a programmable electronic apparatus, said apparatus also being characterised in that said portable massaging head (3) comprises a plurality of button elements (31) moved by an actuator member (32) inside a chamber (33) for the circulation of the fluids conveyed into the same chamber by said controlled circulation means, said same chamber having the lower surface made with an elastic membrane (34) suitable for being deformed from the inside rhythmically by said button elements (31) and suitable for being covered with an interchangeable cover (35), even soaked with specific products, arranged with its outer surface in contact with the patient's skin.
- Apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that said means for producing hot water consist of a boiler (11) with thermoresistance (12) and with thermostat (13) for controlling the temperature.
- Apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that said means for producing cold water consist of a refrigerating apparatus (14) with thermostat (15) for controlling the temperature.
- Apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that said device for exchanging the alternate circulation of hot and cold water, comprises an electropump (16) with low flow and high head, electrovalves (17) controlled by timers and provided with microswitches for controlling the operation of said electropump, non-return valves (18), as well as pipes (2) for supplying said fluids to said massaging head (3) and for feeding said actuator member (32).
- Apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that said actuator member is a motor (32) fed with compressed air.
- Apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that said actuator member is an electric motor fed with low voltage current.
- Apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that the hydraulic circuit for circulating the water is of the closed type, the water contained in the above being periodically regenerated with anti-fungal and anti-microbe substances, in any case foreseeing a bleeder valve to allow the water contained in the circuit to be completely discharged and for it to be replaced with fresh water.
- Apparatus according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that said plurality of button elements consists of a variable number of button elements (31) consisting of small pistons associated with return springs, suitably distributed inside said fluid circulation chamber (33).
- Apparatus according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that said actuator member (32) moves a rotary disc (36) having the lower surface in contact with the heads of said button elements consisting of small pistons (31) and shaped according to an undulating profile suitable for alternately moving said small pistons axially.
- Apparatus according to claim 9, characterised in that the rotary disc (36) is interchangeable, so as to allow the user to have a plurality of rotary discs with different undulating profiles, capable of moving the pistons (31) in different ways.
- Apparatus according to claims 8 and 9, characterised in that the alternate movement of the small pistons (31) is determined by impulses of pressurised air deriving from a suitable pneumatic circuit, equipped with electrovalves.