Passive child therapy tricycle with adjustable seat

Abstract

A passive child therapy tricycle with a specially adjustable chassis, seat and pedals provides a highly adjustable yet efficient motorized tricycle for exercising a child's legs in a rehabilitative setting. The tricycle includes an expandable frame chassis in the shape of a child's tricycle. At the front of the tricycle a direct drive electric motor operates the pedal shaft for turning pedals. The pedals may be adjusted inwardly or outwardly to adjust the pedals' width to that of the child's hips. Adjustable handlebars allow the caregiver to increase the height of the handlebars. A two-piece seat is adjustable in the vertical direction. A curved vertical portion of the back seat provides support of the back. A seat belt through this curved vertical portion helps keep the child in an upright position. A specially contoured lower horizontal seat has a central crown with a back and sides that are tapered downwardly and outwardly. The front of the seat is tapered downwardly. The special shape of this foam lower seat keeps the child's leg apart yet supported and further ensures that the child will not slip down in the adjustable seat. Vertical adjustments for the lower seat portion allow further personalizing of the tricycle. The tricycle may be disassembled into three separate units for easy transportation or storage.

Description

[0001] This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10 / 664,362.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to the field of physical therapy. In particular, a motorized tricycle, attractive to children, is disclosed which has an adjustable seat to keep the child in place as well as adjustable pedals and a programmable electric motor. [0003] In the field of exercise therapy equipment, it is often necessary to have a motorized bicycle or other device to exercise injured or impaired patients. Certain injuries could result in the paralysis of the arms or legs. Additionally, impairment or paralysis could be the result of a congenital disease. In either case, the patient needs to have the muscles of the arms or legs exercised regularly so that these muscles to not become atrophied. [0004] There are common exercise regimens practiced throughout the health care and rehabilitative industry. However, most of these exercise regimens involve manual movement of the limbs b...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] A motorized child's exercise tricycle is presented which is adjustable to allow the exercise tricycle to grow as the child grows. An expandable chassis allows the distance between the seat and the pedals to be adjusted. A special seat is designed that is tapered downwardly and outwardly from the child's body. The adjustable seat, that includes a seatbelt, keeps the child sitting upright with his or back against the back of the seat. The side support of the specially designed back supports the child to avoid slumping. The back support of the seat and the specially designed lower seat keep the child's hips, knees, legs and ankles in alignment. Adjustable pedals are provided in this device to allow the distance between the pedals to be widened to conform to the width of the child's hips so that the hips and legs stay inline. The tricycle also has handlebars that are adjustable up or down. The specially designed seat may also be adjusted up or down to conform the dimensions of the tricycle to the patient's size.

Problems solved by technology

Certain injuries could result in the paralysis of the arms or legs.

However, most of these exercise regimens involve manual movement of the limbs by a nurse practitioner or rehabilitative worker.

Some exercise devices provide for an unattractive motorized movement of the muscle groups.

Motorized rehabilitative apparatus are usually designed for adults and are not made to attract children by simulating a child's toy tricycle.

One drawback of the Pyle device is that it is not similar in appearance to an attractive child's tricycle.

Another drawback of the Pyle device is that the seat is rigid and the length between the seat and pedals is fixed.

One drawback of the Sze device is that the patient must be capable of riding on a small seat 26.

Sze does not provide for an adjustable seat that keeps the child in place.

In addition, Sze does not have adjustable pedals to accommodate the growth of a child.

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