Prevention of heel pressure sores with a simple pneumatic device
✍ Scribed by A. Zelikovsky; E. Deviri; M. Haddad; R. Reiss
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1985
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 107 KB
- Volume
- 72
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0007-1323
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Prevention of heel pressure sores with a simple pneumatic device Sir Comatose, paralysed or elderly patients with peripheral vascular disease who are confined to bed for long periods perioperatively are prone to develop pressure sores on the weight bearing points such as the sacrum, occiput and heels. Pressure relief is the most efficient prevention and can be achieved simply and economically by utilization of the principle of pneumatic elevation.
An inflated children's swimming float, its two chambers, 9 cm in width
), is wrapped around the patient's ankle (Figure2). When the device is fully inflated the patient's heel is elevated without imposing any movement restriction. Furthermore, due to its asymmetric design, its non-inflatable portion does not rotate bottomwards and maintains a nearly frontal position even during the patient's movements. In comparison with other methods such as the large cell ripple mattress', gutter splints of foam rubber' or sheep skin3, this novel pneumatic elevation device is effective and low-cost. It is neither bulky nor movementrestrictive, and is to be recommended.