Posture measuring device
OwnerKurt William Grayinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided are embodiments of a posture measuring device for determining the forward head posture of a patient. Forward head posture (FHP) is the anterior positioning of the cervical spine that is caused by sleeping with the head elevated, extended use of computers and cellphones, lack of developed back muscle strength and lack of nutrients such as calcium. This deformation is associated with headaches, neck pain, thoracic spine pain and symptoms of pain, parastesia or numbness in the upper extremities. The device of the disclosure provides a numerical measurement of the displacement of the skull from the vertical as defined by a datum between the two most posterior points of a patient's spine.
Claims6
A posture measuring device 1 comprising a first elongated member 10, a second elongated member 11 rigidly attached at a right-angle to the first elongated member 10, and a moveable third elongated member 12 slidably disposed on the first elongated member 10, wherein the first elongated member 10 has an inner edge (16) facing an inner edge (17) of the second elongated member 11, and wherein the moveable third elongated member 12 having a proximal end (18) can extend beyond the first elongated member 10 in the direction of, and parallel to, the second elongated member 11.
A method of measuring forward head posture of a subject, the method comprising contacting a subject with a posture measuring device 1 comprising a first elongated member 10, a second elongated member 11 rigidly attached at a right-angle to the first elongated member 10, and a moveable third elongated member 12 slidably disposed on the first elongated member 10, wherein the first elongated member 10 has an inner edge (16) facing an inner edge (17) of the second elongated member 11, and wherein the moveable third elongated member 12 having a proximal end (18) can extend beyond the first elongated member 10 in the direction of, and parallel to, the second elongated member 11, by placing the inner edge (16) of the first elongated member (10) of the postural measuring device (1) along the posterior aspect of the spine of a subject and making contact with the patient with the surface apex of the thoracic kyphosis cephalically and the median sacral crest caudally;
- moving the posture measuring device 1 caudally until the inner surface (17) second elongated member (11) meets the top of the head;
- sliding the moveable third elongated member (12) until the proximal end (18) thereof it contacts the posterior aspect of the head of the subject;
- and reading the length of protrusion of the moveable third elongated member (12) beyond the inner surface (16) of the first elongated member (10) from a scale (19) on the moveable third elongated member (12), thereby generating a measurement of the forward head posture of the patient.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.