Continuous passive motion device having a rehabilitation enhancing mode of operation

Abstract

A continuous passive motion device which may be used in providing physical therapy for a patient's knee by moving the patient's leg through a plurality of cycles of motion in a treatment session includes an “Oscillation Zone” range of motion feature that permits the machine to be operated in such a manner that the patient's knee is flexed and his leg extended through a critical or working range of motion more frequently than through the non-critical range of motion, or the remainder of the range of motion of the device, so as to increase the portion of time of a treatment session that is spent in the working range of motion. A preferred embodiment of the device allows the patient's knee to be flexed, extended and held in certain positions a predetermined number of times per cycle, so as to provide a treatment regimen which replicates the holding and stretching one might receive through physical therapy conducted by a therapist or a physician. A preferred embodiment of the invention also has “Soft Turns” capability, wherein the carriage holding the patient's leg is decelerated, at a controlled rate over a controlled distance, from the operational speed to zero, as the carriage approaches an extension or flexion limit, and wherein the carriage is accelerated in the same fashion as the carriage moves away from the extension or flexion limit.