Levo : En lyftanordning för höjdjustering av manuella gåbarrar

Sammanfattning: The parallel bars is used in physical therapy and is mainly used for patients who have to train walking and balance after a stroke or an operation. It consists of two long handrails with two legs on each handrail. These legs go down into two ground-plates and are locked at the wanted height with a pin. The parallel bars is an appreciated device and is used on a daily basis in many care units. The main issue with the manual parallel bars is that it is very difficult and heavy for a single person to adjust the height of it. If a larger adjustment of the height has to be done, the legs have to be adjusted one at a time otherwise the they will be locked. Often the height isn’t adjusted after every single patient because it’s so difficult and therefore the training doesn’t get optimal for patient. The purpose with this project has been to find a solution that makes the height easier to adjust, so that the parallel bars will be adjusted after each patient. Our goal was to develop and produce a functional prototype of the solution. The result was Levo which is a lifting device that complements the parallel bars. Levo is a simple product to handle and has wheels which makes it easy to move around. To adjust the height of the parallel bars with Levo, place Levo in the middle of the handrail and press the button. The handrail will go up and the button can be released when the right height is reached. To lower the handrail, press the button and push the handrail down. Release the button when it has reached the wanted height. Levo has a construction which makes it possible to use as a complement to almost every manual parallel bars on the market. For a product to be used in care units it has to meet special demands. To know which demands and what properties Levo had to fulfill to be a product that physiotherapists could use and wanted in their work, we contacted several physiotherapists. For example the product could not have any sharp edges and had to be easy to clean. The product also had to be easy and fast to use when the height of the parallel bars should be adjusted. The physiotherapists point of view was in consideration during the developing process of Levo and many different solutions was compared to find an optimal solution that fulfilled all the demands.