Ergonomic walking cane

Abstract

An ergonomically designed walking cane with the sole purpose of reducing the force of impact and the associated impulses along the longitudinal axis of the cane shaft as generated when the cane tip hits the ground during walking. With a systematic approach taken to treat the interfaces between the cane, the user and the ground as a whole system and then followed by detailed analyses backed by human physiological and ergonomic studies, the resultant optimizations and improvements are made to achieve this objective. The resultant reduction in the force of impact and the associated impulses in said walking cane minimizes the risk of injuries such as the Repetitive Strain Injuries and other potential injuries to the wrist, hand, arm shoulder, back, spine, neck and the head. The immediate therapeutic benefits to a user are the lack of any undue fatigue and the almost effortless sensation associated with extended period of use of said ergonomic cane.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An ergonomically designed walking cane comprising: 
 (a) a handle having the rear end tapered up 30 degrees;    (b) a shaft body having a long axis with upper and lower ends;    (c) a tip member having a socket portion in which said lower end of said shaft member is received and a base portion which is shaped like a miniature human foot for resting on an underlying support surface.    
     
     
         2 . A walking cane as claimed in  claim 1  wherein said handle is rigidly attaches to the upper end of a longitudinal perpendicular shaft member which bisects said handle into an 80% of length serving as the handle grip and the remaining 20% length serving as a counter balance weight where said handle is sized and optimized in curvature so as to comfortably fit a user's hand; where the entire length of said handle along with about 2″ of the joint along the vertical shaft are coated with an uniform layer of impact absorbing material. An index finger guard shaped to conform to the contour of a curled up index finger as in holding said handle near the joint between said handle member and the upper end of said shaft member. The far end of said handle grip gently tapers up to make user's hand fit around said handle snug against the joint between said handle and the vertical shaft where the curled index finger is lightly in touch with the impact absorbing material to affect a shifting of the user's primary grip of said handle directly over the Adductor Pollicis Muscle (also known as the Anatomic Snuff Box region of human hand) in between the thumb and the index finger to relieve undue strain on the wrist where the risk of sustaining the Repetitive Strain Injuries is reduced. Furthermore with the user's Adductor Pollicis muscle gripping around said handle results in the intense and continuous stimulation of an acupuncture point named “Hegu” with an internationally recognized identification of “L.i. 4”. The intense stimulation of “Hegu” point results in drastically improved stamina and correspondingly reduced fatigue during an extended period of usage of said ergonomic cane.  
     
     
         3 . A walking cane as claimed in  claim 1  wherein said shaft member has two shallow and elongated indentations punched to absorb the force of impact and the associated impulses induced by said tip hitting the ground; one indentation on the upper portion near said handle but below the impact absorbing material; the other on the lower portion near said tip member.  
     
     
         4 . A walking cane as claimed in  claim 1  wherein said tip mimics the orthopedic structures of a human foot with the sole purpose of absorbing and vectoring the force of impact and the associated impulses away from said shaft during the process of walking where the downwardly slanted nose of said tip vectors a substantial portion of the impact force into the ground by digging into the ground; the arch opening across the entire width of the base of said tip member and the sculpted rear of said tip mimics the heel of a human foot are all designed to absorb and vector away the force of impact and the associated impulses similar to that of human foot.  
     
     
         5 . A walking cane as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein the tip member is formed of an resiliently yielding semi-rigid rubber material.  
     
     
         6 . A walking cane as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein said wall portion of said socket portion of said tip member extends upwardly to an upper opening of said socket portion through which said shaft member of said cane extends into said tip member.  
     
     
         7 . A walking cane as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein said socket in the base of said tip member is terminated with a rigid metal disk with larger diameter than the diameter of said shaft where the perimeter of said metal disk is molded into the resiliently semi-rigid rubber material to provide a base support for said shaft member.  
     
     
         8 . A walking cane as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein said tip member with a proportional scaling up to such dimensions and mass to enable the entire cane to stand up freely and yet still retain the ability to reduce impulses and force impacts during walking.  
     
     
         9 . A walking cane as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein said tip member making contact with earthen surface with three rigid rubber or metallic cleats at the bottom of said tip member arranged in a tripod configuration where the linear distances from the center of said tip member to each of the three cleats are exactly equal to further reduce the force of impact and associated impulses when the cleats hit the ground.  
     
     
         10 . A walking cane as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein said tip member alone can fit into any existing can, walker and crutch to achieve a substantial amount of reduction in the force of impact and the associated impulses during walking.