Pressure measurement of air cushions for SCI patients

Pressure sores are a serious problem for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. Many kinds of pressure-relieving cushions have been developed to distribute the patient's weight evenly and widely. In rehabilitation medicine, the selection and the adjustment of the wheelchair cushion must be done very carefully by the medical staff to prevent pressure sores. We measured the buttock pressure distribution of SCI patients using the Tekscan pressure measurement system. In this paper, we calculate six parameters and represent these parameters on a hexagonal radar plot to evaluate the pressure distribution of wheelchair cushions. We believe this radar plot can be very useful for medical personnel when selecting and adjusting wheelchair cushions and adjusting the posture of SCI patients.