PRESSURE SORES CAN BE PREVENTED!
A healthy unimpaired person moves and shifts subconsciously without even
realizing it. We even move in our sleep in response to these subconscious inputs
telling our brain that an area of soft tissue is deprived of blood and
nourishment. When an area of soft tissue is under pressure for more that twenty
minutes, some cells start to die for the lack of nourishment the blood supplies
to this soft tissue. The longer a person sits or lies without the necessary
movement to relieve the pressure, the greater the number of dead cells. If an
area of soft tissue is under constant pressure for an hour or more, the result
of the pressure induced blood deprivation to the cells is a pressure sore. By
far the best way to deal with pressure sores is to prevent the sore in the first
place.
MOVEMENT IS CRITICAL!
Our seating systems change the pressure point under the seated user every four
minutes. Our computer driven system provides the movement that alternately
applies pressure and then takes it away. When the pressure is relieved, a fresh
supply of nourishing blood floods into the tissue. This continuous cycle of
alternating pressure insures that the soft tissue gets the adequate supply of
blood necessary for good health. We
have had excellent results with the people we have put on our seating systems
soon after they are confined to the wheelchair or at the first sign of skin
breakdown. Waiting for skin breakdown is risky though, since for many people,
the first sore is a Stage 3 or 4 sore and very serious. Many doctors and
writers, in mobility rated magazines, tend to believe that suffering pressure
sores is almost 'par for the course' for the chair bound person and little can
be done to change that.
WHAT CAUSES PRESSURE SORES?
Answer: Pressure does not caused pressure sores! Lack
of movement causes pressure sores!
When people lose a mobility from a spinal cord injury, or a neuromuscular disease such as MS, ALS or other causes, they lose the ability to move their own body and weight while seated or in bed. Pressure generated between the person's own skeletal frame and seat or bed squeezes the blood out from the soft tissue between the bone and support surface. As long as we have gravity, we will have the weight that causes the pressure and we cannot change that but we can control amount of time the tissue is under pressure. When we move the pressure away, the bodies own circulatory system floods the pressure drained tissue with fresh blood. Our "ACTIVE MASSAGE SEATING SYSTEM" alternately applies pressure for 4 minutes then reduces the pressure to half for 4 minutes then reduces the pressure to almost nothing for 4 minutes. Then pressure increased by half for 4 minutes, and then increased to full for 4 minutes to be back at the starting point and starting another cycle. The alternating pressure greatly increases the blood flow to the soft tissue promoting healing to existing sores and significantly reducing the risk for pressure sores in the future.
THE "ACTIVE
MASSAGE" SEATING SYSTEM WILL REPLACE THE LOST MOVEMENT!
Pressure sores are caused by lack of motion more than pressure. As a person
sits, the soft tissue is compressed between the bone structure of the body and
the supporting surface. When that compressive force is enough to squeeze the
blood out of the soft tissue, and the person stays in that position for more
than twenty minutes, some of the cells start
to die. The longer the person sits without moving the greater the percentage of
cells to the point that cellular destruction is so great that all the tissue
area deprived of fresh blood becomes necrotic and pressure sore is formed. The
problem is far more lack of movement that pressure. Uninjured people never sit
totally still for any extended length of time. They move and shift in response
to subconscious imputes and avoid the pressure sore problem.
People with spinal cord injuries or mobility impairing diseases, such as MS, Al's and MD, can't move in response to these imputes or perhaps no longer have the active imputes, so they don't move sufficiently to keep the soft tissue nourished with fresh blood. From an engineering standpoint, the problem was how to restore movement and change the pressure patterns to insure an adequate supply of fresh blood to the soft tissue areas under compression.
Despite spinal cord injury or mobility impairing disease, when supplemented by the artificial movement our Seating System provides, the cushion user's circulatory system and Mother Nature takes over and maintains good soft tissue health!
Most people never worry too much about getting pressure sore until they have one. Some medical people believe that pressure sores are an almost inevitable part of life for wheelchair users. That is simply not true. Many doctors and writers, in mobility related magazines, tend to believe that suffering pressure sores is almost 'par for the course' for the chair bound person and little can be done to change that.
We respectfully disagree and offer the experiences of our many customers as proof that the Seating Systems can keep even the highest risk people pressure sore free for years. These customers "life trials' have demonstrated the proof positive that movement is the difference between good soft tissue health and the misery of pressure sores.
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