The knee strength training device "Knee Trainer", which was jointly developed by the research group of Kurume University School of Medicine (Chief Professor Naoto Shinami) and Panasonic Co., Ltd., is on sale from August 2015, 8, which is effective for elderly people and astronauts. increase.
For knee trainers, "hybrid training", which Professor Shinami started researching for elderly people suffering from leg weakness in 2000, is being utilized.Hybrid training is a new training method that combines human movement and electrical stimulation. Panasonic is in charge of circuit design and has been developing it in collaboration with the university.
When you walk with your knee trainer on, the body motion sensor can sense the movement of your legs, apply electrical stimulation to your muscles, and effectively train the muscles around your knees.In addition, you can walk while stabilizing your muscles by applying electrical stimulation even when landing, which puts a strain on your knee joints.It supports the comfortable walking exercise of elderly people who suffer from leg weakness and knee problems.
In addition, since hybrid training can be used as a method for coping with astronaut muscle weakness, we have been conducting joint research with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).At the International Space Station, we also conducted verification using special experimental equipment incorporating the concept of hybrid training, and confirmed that the equipment can be used without problems in space and can be expected to have a preventive effect on muscle atrophy in microgravity.
The knee trainer is sold only at stores certified by Panasonic, and the price is 14 yen (excluding tax).
