Tetsuhiko Kimura

Horseback riding therapy simulator with VR technology

We have developed a system that reproduce the effect of horse back riding therapy, which device may be enjoyed by healthy senior citizens, and has been specifically designed to rejuvenate both the mind and the body. We have also developed a Virtual Reality section that is effective in creating images and sounds that complement both each other and correspond to the movements produced by the drive system. The controlling action mechanism of theVirtual Reality Operation section allows interactive starting, speeding up, slowing down, turning, and stopping through commands given through the reins or by leg movements as auxiliary functions. We had 5 human experimenters ride the machine with an eye to pronouncing judgment on how well the machine reproduces the sensations of riding an actual horse in order to test the device. And we got the estimation by all of the experimental riders that real horses have the same walking movement as that produced by the simulator.

Decubitus Studies After the Non-Enforcement of Bedsore Measures

Purpose: We studied how to prevent the developing of bedsore in patients by implementing a novel method. The Shounankenyukai Nagaoka hospital, a care treatment hospital was able to prevent the development of bedsores in patients, the way the hospital managed to do it was taken as the subject of an investigation. Method: As the chairman of the board of directors of this hospital was a member of the study group, the cooperation of the staff executing the study could be built by the authority. We decided to carry out the surveillance study of the present condition and to analyze it as shown below; (Breakdown: Devices to use, Body pressure dispersion, plan for prevention, enforcement of the plan, daily rehabilitation management, nourishment – organized in a chronological order of data). We reviewed all the medical examination data from June 3, 2002 to November 11, 2005. Then, we created a bedsore plan database, rehabilitation management database, and blood tests result database. Results: The patients who were in need of some degree of care made up 56% of the nursing care insurance in the hospital, while the prevalence bedsore patients was only 4.7% in 2002, 0% in 2005, and an average of 2.8% in 4 years. Three characteristic issues of the hospital became clear (i) exceptional enforcement of rehabilitation treatment by the Takizawa method based on the Degree of Care needed, (ii) making the patients position change in less than every 2 hours and the local body pressure of less than 200 mmHg according to the KOSIAK formula for the prevention of bedsores development, and (iii) concerning the nourishment management, although there were many inpatients requiring in tube feeding, to switch to oral ingestion and to individual nourishment management as soon as possible. Discussion: It was published that the bedsore prevalence in patients needing a Degree of Care is 53.6%, on average, in all Japanese hospitals and health care facilities. There is a big difference between that and the result of this study. We consider 3 points which may specifically contribute to a decrease in the generation of bedsores; (i) enforcement of the kinetic rehabilitation adapted to the level of care needed, mainly of the type of motivative exercise, such as the Takizawa method and its enforcement according to the nursing care degree, (ii) use of a cushion for the posture change a bed, which is also used in the Takizawa method of rehabilitation for keeping the sitting position and (iii) nourishment management that considers individual circumstances. It seems that the introduction of the non-enforcement of bedsore measures would enable the effective bedsore prevention in hospitals.

Study of the Prevent Genesis of the Bedsore Patient with Using the Welfare Device and the Actual Situation

Purpose: We carried out a questionnaire survey based on the free answer question in order to extract the features of actually eliminating facility a bedsore of elderly people with disabilities and consciousness elucidation of caregivers, nurses and workers, which are not apparent in the pre-answer questionnaire that the options to answer were set. Method: The resulting responses were analyzed by text mining. Result: And the specific triangle cushion use in this facility, which had not enabled to clarify it in a past study, was explained. We could clearly the specific triangular cushion use of the institution concerned which was not clearly made in a previous investigation and the consciousness of the pursuer from the analysis of the free description by conducting the analysis by text mining of the obtained reply. The resulting responses were analyzed by text mining. Conclusion: And it was explained that the specific triangle cushion was used in this facility, which had not enabled to clarify it in a past study. Thereby the difference of the using device and the current situation between this facility, which realized the position change within local pressure 200mhg and in 2 hours and the other facilities, which effort to eliminate the bedsore patient could be clearly. We report our study because it seems to have obtained a hypothesis for the position change to prevent genesis of the bedsore patient.

Horse riding robot for health promotion and its control

Horse riding robot for health promotion and its control Shuoyu Wang a , Koichi Kawata b , Takeshi Tsuchiya c , Kenji Ishda d , Tetsuhiko Kimura e , Ryoji Nakajima f & Youichi Shinomiya g a Department of Intelligent Mechanical Systems Engineering, Kochi University of Technology, 185 Miyanokuchi Tosayamada-cho, Kami-gun, Kochi 782-8502, Japan b Department of Intelligent Mechanical Systems Engineering, Kochi University of Technology, 185 Miyanokuchi Tosayamada-cho, Kami-gun, Kochi 782-8502, Japan c Graduate School of Engineering, Division of System Information Engineering, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan d Department of Rehabilitation, Kochi Medical School, Nankoku City 783-8050, Japan e Department of Health Services Administration, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8602, Japan f Human Media Technology Group Advanced Technology Research Laboratory, Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd, 1084 Kadoma, Osaka 571-8686, Japan g Human Media Technology Group Advanced Technology Research Laboratory, Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd, 1084 Kadoma, Osaka 571-8686, Japan Published online: 02 Apr 2012.