An assisted waist supporter for vertebral rehabilitation

Study shows that back injuries are the main reasons of disabilities in American for the people under 45 years old [1]. According to the survey of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH), which is a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of USA, there is no proof of the effectiveness of the back belt for prevention the back pain and injuries. Despite the lack evidence of scientific studies, more and more people wear the back belts for the back supporter [1]. Those patients with the disorders of the sciatic nerve, the spine or the intervertebral disc often result in the difficulties of work because of the back pains. The purpose of this design is to help the users to gradually get rid of the dependence of the back belts. The assisted waist supporter has two states. One is the assisted state and the other one is the self-supported state. While the air pumps inside the design are full, this waist supporter is functioned as the back belt and it is in the assisted state. If the air pumps are not activated, the design has no supporting effect so it is in the self-supported state. To reach the rehabilitation, the user should switch states while wearing it and the activation of the assisted state should be gradually reduced. The controller of the state-switch for this waist supporter is implemented through an APP of the mobile phone. The user can easily adjust the state-switch to reach the effect of rehabilitation.