摘要 |
The walker includes a frame structure mounted on rear wheels and forward casters in turn supporting a parallelogram structure lying essentially in a vertical plane. The rear ends of the upper and lower horizontal members making up the parallelogram structure are pivoted to a column extending upwardly from the frame structure and the front ends of these members are pivoted to a generally vertical front member supporting a harness. The arrangement is such that when the active lengths of the upper and lower horizontal members are equal, the front member will move up and down in essentially a vertical direction always remaining parallel to the upwardly extending column. A patient is supported in the harness structure to the front member and a force such as by springs is provided on the parallelogram structure to bias the front member upwardly and thereby relieve at least a part of the weight of a patient in the harness. This force is adjustable so that as a patient learns to walk the actual weight on the patient's legs can be adjusted to increase slowly as by decreasing the spring force applied to the parallelogram structure.
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