JPS6058982B2 - Photostimulation therapy device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a phototherapeutic device that uses light energy to stimulate specific acupuncture points scattered throughout the human body to obtain a therapeutic effect.

Moxibustion or acupuncture has been known to be particularly effective as a treatment for neurological disorders and functional decline in various organs of the human body, including internal organs.

Although the medical basis for these treatments is still unclear, they are becoming popular because they are easy to perform and can often be expected to produce immediate results.
l8F yo,'-A--f1l4l14-teriki V1aa,
Of the so-called acupuncture points that cause pimples and contusions, stimulation is given to specific acupuncture points corresponding to the affected area, and moxibustion treatment particularly targets the acupuncture points on the body surface and burns moxa at those points. A therapeutic effect is obtained by applying heat stimulation to acupoints and creating resistance to toxins associated with moxa and skin burning. In addition, acupuncture is particularly effective when stimulating acupuncture points below the surface of the body, in which a fine needle-like acupuncture needle is inserted into the affected area or into the acupuncture points corresponding to the affected area, and the reaction to the stimulation is used to aid in treatment. It is something. However, in the above-mentioned moxibustion treatment, since moxa is burned on the skin, burns are unavoidable, and it is almost impossible to apply the moxibustion to pressure points on the face or oral mucous membranes, etc., and it is inevitably accompanied by fever.

Furthermore, in acupuncture treatment, needles are inserted into the body (sometimes as many as several needles are inserted), which creates a strange sense of fear in the patient, induces unnecessary tension, and is often accompanied by pain.
Despite its effectiveness, it is often avoided by patients and has not yet become widely available. Furthermore, like moxibustion treatment, the reality is that it is rarely applied to the face or oral mucosa. In addition, similar to the above-mentioned treatment method using acupoint stimulation, there is infrared or microwave irradiation treatment5, but the irradiation range is relatively wide around the affected area, and it is quite different from acupuncture point stimulation. It is.

In view of the above-mentioned current situation, the present invention provides a treatment device that can easily perform acupuncture stimulation treatment on any acupuncture point on the human body without causing any pain.

In addition, the device of the present invention can easily be equipped with additional elements that can adjust the degree of stimulation as appropriate depending on individual differences among patients, and is highly versatile as there is no selectivity due to patient, affected area, acupuncture point position, etc. The device of the present invention basically consists of a light source device as a stimulation energy source, a light guide means for guiding the light flux from the light source to the affected area or acupuncture point position, and a light guide device disposed at both ends of the light guide means. It consists of an optical system for efficiently utilizing the light energy, and a means for controlling the irradiation time of light energy or the time interval of intermittent irradiation. In addition, there is also a modulation means that modulates the light beam from the light source as necessary, a tip member that makes it easier to carry when irradiating the affected area or acupoint with the light beam, and a tool that allows you to check whether the light beam is reliably irradiating the acupuncture points. In addition to this, there is also an observation means for aiming, and a focusing means for focusing the light beam on that position in order to efficiently stimulate the acupuncture points below the body surface, and a focusing means that corresponds to the various depths of the acupuncture points. It is possible to install various additional configurations depending on the purpose, such as a four for obtaining a focus position and a gas position variable means. The light used in the apparatus of the present invention is required to have a certain degree of brightness, and for example, light from a xenon lamp can also be used.

But this! Although it is difficult to efficiently make such light into a small diameter, it is possible in principle, but in the following examples, we will discuss in detail the method using laser light, which is easy to process. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view 5 of an embodiment of the device of the present invention. Referring to the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a power supply section containing a transformer or a circuit device, etc., and casters 3 with a locking mechanism (not shown) are used. It can be moved and fixed freely.

The power supply unit 1 is also provided with a panel 2 for operation and monitoring, so that the panel 2 can be used to control the operation of the device and monitor outputs or other device operation signals. Reference numeral 4 denotes a support that protrudes from the power supply section 1 and supports the light source section 5 above it.

The support column 4 is provided with a mechanism that allows the light source section 5 to freely rotate and move up and down with respect to the power source section 1, and also has a locking function. The light source section 5 incorporates a laser light source device and various control system elements as will be described later, and emits a desired form of laser light to the injection tube 6 in accordance with the operation of the panel 2.

An optical system is connected to the distal end of the injection tube 6 (shown as a lens barrel section 7), which efficiently reduces the diameter of the laser beam. The laser j beam made into a small diameter enters a bendable light guiding means 10 connected via a coupling part 8.
Optical fibers such as SELFOC Guide (trade name) are suitable as such light guiding means, but other optical fibers such as multi-articulated arms with mirrors or prisms arranged at the joints are also suitable. good. A narrow parallel beam is therefore emitted from the exit end of the light guiding means 10, and a converging lens system is provided at the tip of the light guiding means 10 in order to increase the density of this beam energy at the acupoint position.

(Illustrated as lens barrel 11.) A converging lens system has a predetermined focal length, so the beam converges at one point, but
The many pressure points scattered throughout the human body are not located at a constant depth from the body surface, but vary. To cope with this, it is preferable to make the focal length of the converging lens system variable. In this embodiment, the convergent lens is provided with a variable convergence position function, and its position can be continuously changed using the operation ring 12. Reference numeral 13 denotes a hood, which is constructed of something that has filter-like properties as will be described later.

Although it has been mentioned that laser light is used as the light in the above embodiments, examples of laser light include He-Ne laser (λ: 0.6328 μm) or YAG laser (λ: 0.6328 μm).
: 1.06 μm) is suitable.

Laser light of these wavelengths is particularly in the red-infrared region that easily passes through the human body, and can reach, for example, acupuncture points in the lower layer of the skin. For this reason, the Aγ laser (λ: 0.5 μm), which has been widely used in the past, has a high absorption in the epidermis and is less effective, while the CO2 laser (λ: 10 μm) is less effective.
．． 6 μm) is not suitable because the thermal energy is too strong and damages the skin. Note that the output of the laser light is He
-About 15mW for Ne, and 200mW for YAG
300n1W is sufficient. FIG. 2 is a principle diagram showing an example of the optical configuration of the device of the present invention.

The part enclosed by the broken line A in the same figure is the part housed inside the light source section indicated by 5 in FIG. 1. Within the broken line A, 20 is a laser light source, 21 and 22 are reflecting mirrors, and the optical path of the laser beam from the laser light source 20 is appropriately selected. Reference numeral 23 denotes a shutter that can selectively block the laser beam optical path, and can be operated in the direction of arrow a by a timer or other control device (not shown).

Reference numeral 24 denotes a beam output adjusting means, for example, a disk composed of an ND filter whose density changes stepwise or continuously is used, and by making the filter density change along the circumferential direction of the disk, The laser output can be adjusted to an appropriate level by adjusting the amount of rotation of the disk.

Reference numeral 25 denotes a measuring device that measures the intensity of partially reflected light from a half mirror placed in the beam optical path to obtain beam output monitoring information.

27 is a modulation means for applying pulse modulation to the beam, and for example, an optical chopper as shown in FIG. 4 is rotated at a constant speed by a motor or the like.

The beam within the broken line A, that is, the beam emitted from the light source section, has its beam diameter further narrowed by the optical system 28, and is directed to the light guiding means 2.
9.

After passing through the light guiding means 29, the beam is converged to a point P by a converging lens system 30. The convergent lens system 30 is provided with a variable focus function so that it can appropriately correspond to the depth of the acupuncture points. This can be done, for example, by changing the distance between the illustrated concave and convex lenses, and various means can be adopted depending on the configuration of the optical system. Therefore, the convergence point P becomes variable. To describe the characteristic action or effect of the above configuration, the shutter 2
3 and the modulation means 27, various forms of beam energy adjustment are possible. That is, not only continuous beam irradiation but also intermittent pulsed irradiation as shown in FIG. 3 is possible. FIG. 3 is a time chart showing an example of intermittent pulsed laser beam irradiation (the horizontal axis is the time axis T, and the vertical axis is the beam intensity.

), the beam irradiation interval or the irradiation pause interval T2 can be freely controlled by the shutter 23. Further, the pulse width T3 or the period of this pulse modulation can be freely selected by setting the light passing window of the chopper shown in FIG. . Note that when using the chopper shown in FIG. 4, by moving the rotation axis of the chopper with respect to the beam optical path, a predetermined one can be selected and set among the concentrically arranged windows. The beam intensity H in FIG. 3 is adjusted by the beam output adjusting means 24 (FIG. 2), which is operated while monitoring the output of the photometer 25.

As described above, since the device of the present invention uses light energy as the acupuncture point stimulation energy, various manipulations of the stimulation energy are possible.

Therefore, it is possible to obtain the optimal stimulation form corresponding to various factors such as the location of the affected area or acupuncture points, symptoms, or individual differences among patients. The optical system 28 in FIG. 2 has the function of making the beam small in diameter and making the beam enter the light guide means 29 without loss of light quantity. This is because it is preferable that the light beam is a parallel light beam, and that it is advantageous that the light beam is a parallel light beam.By using a lens system without using an aperture, effective use of light energy is attempted.

Furthermore, if the convergent optical system 30 is provided with a variable focal length function, the focal position P can be set freely. Therefore, it is possible to easily focus on acupuncture points located below the human body's epidermis. Note that the converging optical system with a variable focal length function is different from a normal so-called zoom lens in that it has the function of changing the convergence position of the parallel incident light beam, and it does not have a constant focal length as in the case of a photographic lens. This is different from a zoom lens with a fixed image position. FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the tip of the device of the present invention, in which 31 is a light guiding means, 32 is a lens barrel incorporating the converging optical system with the above-mentioned focal length variable function, and 33 is a lens barrel for variable focal length. It is an operating ring.

Further, 34 is a hood that can be fixed to or detached from the tip of the device. The hood 34 not only protects the tip of the device but also contributes to holding the tip of the device during treatment.

When using this device, which functions as a holding means, the operator must hold the tip of the device against a specific acupuncture point on the patient at a predetermined distance from the human epidermis; It is extremely difficult to hold it above the body of a person. At this time, it is extremely simple to press the hood 34 against the patient's skin. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, if the hood 35 is configured to be slidably attached and fixed to the tip of the device, and the degree of sliding can be read on the scale 36, the depth of the acupuncture point can be adjusted. By slidingly fixing the hood 35 and holding the end of the hood against the patient's skin, the acupoint position and the beam focus position can be aligned and maintained.

In addition, when using this device repeatedly, if you plot the acupuncture points on the patient's skin and record the depth, the hood position will be determined according to the depth, and the beam will be placed on the plot section. Just irradiate it. (In addition, Fig. 6 shows an example where the acupuncture point is on the epidermis, that is, at depth O.) If the hood is slid in this way, even if the converging lens has a fixed focus, it will cover a large area. It will be possible to respond to the pressure points. Another function of the hood is aiming.

As mentioned above, when irradiating a beam onto a plot on the patient's skin, it must be confirmed, but even though the reflectance of the skin is low, the beam is so bright that it is very bright to confirm. , it is difficult to confirm. Therefore, this drawback can be overcome by reducing the transmittance of the hood with respect to at least the beam wavelength and aiming through the hood. It is also possible to install a safety device using a hood.

That is, the hood is pressed against the patient's skin to some extent, and when the hood is displaced by a predetermined amount, the operation switch is turned on and the beam is emitted. As a mechanism for this purpose, it is sufficient to provide a spring that urges the hood toward the distal end and a contact for detecting the position of the hood that is displaced against the spring. Furthermore, safety can be further ensured by providing a locking mechanism at the initial position before displacement. Figure 7 shows yet another type of hood. be.

The one shown here has a bent shape at the tip of the hood and an optical path converting means 36 such as a mirror or prism.
It is equipped with Therefore, the beam is reflected once and reaches the affected area or acupuncture point. When such a hood is used, the hood, that is, the tip of the device, can be fixed to a desired part of the patient with adhesive tape or the like, as shown by the broken line 40 in the figure, and it is not necessary to hold the device in the hand after aiming. By allowing the hoods having various functions to be selected depending on the situation at the distal end of the device, the use of the device of the present invention can be made easier.

When irradiating the beam, when changing the focal length of the convergent lens system to treat acupuncture points on the skin, rather than simply writing the value of the focal length of the convergent lens system on the variable focal length operation ring, The shortest focus position determined by the hood length, etc. (This is focused on the epidermis.

) is indicated as zero, and it is extremely effective for use if the number of millimeters below the epidermis is indicated below.Also,
When using this device, the beam irradiation time, irradiation interval, etc. can be initially set and automatically controlled, but in some cases it may be better for the doctor to control these manually.

Although such manual control can be performed by the on-off switch on panel 2 of FIG. 1 or the hood switch mentioned above, it is still preferable to operate it by hand. Therefore, if a shutter is also provided on the tip operation section, it can be used as a safety device in addition to the above control. Reference numeral 14 in FIG. 1 is a hanger, and if the hook 15 is suspended from this hanger when the apparatus is not in use, it is effective for transporting the apparatus and for protecting the tip.

As described in detail above, the present invention provides a device for stimulating affected areas or acupuncture points with light energy irradiation to obtain a therapeutic effect, which eliminates the drawbacks of conventional moxibustion and acupuncture treatments, and further improves the effects. It is something that improves.

According to this device, it is effective to be able to adjust stimulation energy in various forms, and output adjustment can be freely set from weak stimulation to strong stimulation. On the other hand, it is also possible to easily focus on acupuncture points located under the human body's epidermis, allowing for effective treatment. Furthermore, the holding means at the tip of the device reduces the physical fatigue of the operator and prevents erroneous irradiation of the laser beam to areas other than the targeted acupuncture points due to camera shake, thereby improving the safety of treatment. This is also a significant improvement. Further, the light source built into the apparatus of the present invention does not necessarily have to be a single light source, and a low output light source may be added for irradiation.

The effects of the device of the present invention have been actually confirmed, and some clinical examples are shown below for reference.

The light used was a He-Ne laser beam, with intermittent pulses of 5 Hz in each case, and the irradiation time ratio in one cycle period was 112 (using the innermost slit of the chopper shown in Figure 4). , T2 in FIG. 3 was set to zero. 1B year old, male, trigeminal neuralgia patient○ The beam was irradiated on the tender point of the second branch of the right trigeminal nerve for 5 minutes.

As a result, there was complete pain relief for the next three minutes. 1,141 years old, female, patient with muscle tension headache O-beam was irradiated to the tender points of the greater occipital nerves on both sides for 5 minutes each.

As a result, he has not had any complaints of headache since then.

(2 weeks passed) Jjj, 41 years old, male, neck sprain (whiplash) ○ The beam was irradiated to the lower midline of the occiput for one time.

As a result, my headache became less severe. In addition, although the beam pulse frequency was set to 20 Hz, it was not effective as there was no sensation of warmth that was felt when the beam pulse frequency was set to 5 Hz. In the cases mentioned above, when the beam was effective, a sense of temperature occurred in all the areas irradiated with the beam, and in cases where it was ineffective, no sense of temperature occurred.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external view of one embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a principle diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the device of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows an example of the optical energy waveform of the device of the present invention. FIG. 4 shows an example of a chopper as a light modulating means that can be used in the apparatus of the present invention. FIGS. 5 to 7 each show various examples of the hood.
1...Power source section, 2...Panel, 5...Light source section, 1
0...Light guide means, 13...Hood, 21...Light source,
23... Uyatsuta, 24... Output adjustment means, 27...
...Modulation means/device, 30... Convergence optical system, 33... Focal length operation ring.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A treatment device comprising a laser light source device and a bendable light guiding means that changes the emission position and direction of the light beam emitted from the laser light source device, in which intermittent irradiation of the light beam from the laser light source device is provided. shutter means for changing the interval; output adjustment means for adjusting the intensity of the light beam output; modulation means for applying pulse modulation to the light beam; 1. An optical stimulation treatment device comprising: an optical system having a variable convergence position; and a holding means for holding the light beam exit end at a predetermined distance from a treatment site.