The Simple Truth About Pressure Sores
The simple truth about pressure injury, pressure sores, pressure ulcers.
There is much written lately about using technology like MRI and ultrasound to try to figure out anatomical influences which contribute to pressure injury and to use these technologies to provide a better risk assessment for deep tissue pressure injuries. The information provided from these technologies would be used to prescribe seating systems and protocols that will be personalized for the best outcomes, ie avoiding pressure injury. The studies that have been done look at things like asymmetries in posture and structure of the buttocks which is fine but misses the point.
They explore complicated ways to assess a very simple problem and an even simpler solution.
No degree required, just common sense
It doesn’t take all this technology, a team of scientists or an advanced degree to understand the cause of pressure injury. Pressure ulcers (also known as pressure sores or bedsores) are injuries to the skin and underlying tissue, primarily caused by prolonged pressure on the skin. They can happen to anyone, but usually affect people confined to bed or who sit in a chair or wheelchair for long periods of time. This is the primary cause of pressure injury and it has been known for decades. Its just that simple.
Now that you know how pressure injury is caused, how do you prevent it? That too is very simple. You give the compressed skin and tissue pressure relief. You allow circulation to be reestablished.
There you go. A simple to understand problem and a simple solution and it doesn’t take advanced technology or a committee of PHD’s.
How do you get pressure relief?
To achieve pressure relief, therapists recommend wheelchair push- ups every 20 minutes, tilt recline to reduce the load in posterior or hard leans forward and side to side. These methods may be impossible to do for some people or draw unwanted attention in public or not effective enough to make a difference.
Can a cushion give pressure relief?
It depends. No static (non-moving) cushion can stimulate circulation by itself. All static cushions exert constant pressure to skin and tissue because it is impossible for those types of cushions to bring pressure relief on their own. They require the user to do their own pressure relief as explained above.
But, the Aquila cushions do provide pressure relief. We can prove it and you can see it in a pressure mapping video on our website where we go head to head against a Roho static cushion.
Our cushion changes the pressure distribution over 60 times per hour and you can see the dramatic changes before your eyes.
With every change in the image, our cushion brings pressure relief to the compressed tissue and stimulates circulation while the Roho just sits there doing nothing. It’s your choice. You can choose one of the static cushions which requires you to do your own pressure relief, every 20 minutes, all day long or you can use our automatic cushion and have the cushion do the pressure relief for you. All day long, every 60 seconds.
