Effect of Seat Inclination on Seated Pressures of Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury
By Maurer, Christine L.; Sprigle, Stephen; Physical Therapy (PTJ) , Vol. 84, No. 3, pp. 255-261Publication Date: March 2004
Study conducted to examine the effect of increasing posterior seat inclination on buttock interfaces among people who use manual wheelchairs. Nine male and five female participants with complete thoracic or lumbar spinal cord injuries took part in the study. The participants’ mean age was 37, and all were more than a year removed from injury. All of the participants used manual wheelchairs, while none had demonstrated any evidence of skin breakdown. A KISS seat simulator with adjustable seat, back angles, and footrests was used to simulate four common seat inclinations used in manual wheelchair configurations. A flat cushion was used to accommodate the varying body sizes of the participants, and an Invacare Tarsys padded backrest was used for back support. The Force Sensing Array (FSA) pressure mapping system was used to record seated pressures. The FSA mat consists of a 16- by 16-centimeter sensor array spaced over a 43.2- by 43.2-centimeter sensing area. The mat is .36 millimeters thick, and there are 256 individual sensors measuring 2.38 centimeters-squared, with average spacing at 2.7 centimeters. The seat depth of the seating simulator was adjusted for each participant corresponding to his or her own wheelchair seat depth. The participants were instructed to position themselves on the seating simulator with their sacrum touching the backrest at all times. The participants sat on top of the pressure map that was placed over the foam cushion. Interface pressure measurements were recorded at each testing position after one minute. Five pressure measurements were recorded at each of the four test positions following this sequence, with the mean of the multiple measurements used in the analysis. No meaningful differences were found in the measurements of interface pressure, total force on seat, or peak pressure index with posterior seat inclination. The data was found to indicate no meaningful evidence that squeezing a wheelchair frame increases interface pressures.
Assistive Products Discussed: FSA 4D PRESSURE MAPPING SYSTEM FOR WHEELCHAIR SEATING
TARSYS TILT & RECLINE SYSTEMS
KISS (KEEP IT SIMPLE) SIMULATOR (MODEL SM01)
Published by: American Physical Therapy Association (Website:http://www.apta.org)
Link to text: http://www.ptjournal.org/cgi/content/full/84/3/255
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number J47338
