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Research Reports |
CL Maurer, PT, MPT, ATP, is Senior Physical Therapist, Seating and Mobility Clinic, Shepherd Center, 2020 Peachtree Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30303 (USA) (chris_maurer{at}shepherd.org).
S Sprigle, PT, PhD, is Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Director, Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access, Atlanta, Ga
Address all correspondence to Ms Maurer
Submitted May 21, 2003;
Accepted September 15, 2003
| Abstract |
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Key Words: Interface pressure Spinal cord injury Wheelchair
| Introduction |
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A slouched thoracolumbar kyphotic posture increases the bases of support during sitting.6,9 Lack of trunk control may be a reason why people with SCI choose to sit with a kyphotic posture and increase their base of support. Our clinical observations have indicated that individuals with paraplegia and quadriplegia state that they feel more stable when sitting with a posterior pelvic tilt. Active manual wheelchair users also address the need for stability by "squeezing" the frame of the chair. Squeezing the frame is achieved by inclining the back of the seat relative to the front of the seat while maintaining the same back angle relative to the floor. This approach is intended to allow an individual without intact paraspinal musculature to attain a more erect trunk posture without a loss of balance during functional upper-extremity activities.
Much research has been done on pressure and body posture or position, including seat tilt (maintaining consistent hip/knee/foot angles) and recline,1012 forward and side trunk leans,13,14 and footrest position.12 These studies focused mostly on the effect of common weight-shift techniques used by wheelchair users with SCIs to decrease potential for skin breakdown. The effect of increased posterior seat inclination with a reduced seat-to-back angle (commonly known as "squeeze") on interface pressure is not yet known. Clinicians have expressed concern that increasing hip flexion will increase pressure on the ischial tuberosities, thereby exposing the user to an increased risk of skin breakdown. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of increased posterior seat inclination on seated interface pressures.
| Method |
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Instrumentation
A KISS seat simulator* with adjustable seat and back angles and footrests was used to simulate 4 common seat inclinations used in manual wheelchair configurations: 0, 6.8, 10.2, and 13.7 degrees (Figs. 1 and 2). The selected angles corresponded to seat drops of 0, 5.1, 7.6, and 10.2 cm (0, 2, 3, and 4 in) on a seat with a 43.18-cm (17-in) depth. Changing the seat inclination is typically done by lowering the rear edge of the seat with respect to the front edge of the seat. The back angle was maintained at 80 degrees relative to the floor, allowing subjects to recline slightly and sit without upper-extremity support. A solid, curved, padded backrest (Invacare Tarsys*) was used for back support. The backrest height was maintained at 45.7 cm (18 in) from the seat pan to the top of the backrest. A 46-cm-deep x 61-cm-wide (18- x 24-in), 10-cm-thick (4-in) HR45 polyurethane foam cushion
was used as the seat support surface. A flat cushion was used to accommodate the varying body sizes of the subjects. The cushion was new at the beginning of the study, and all of the subjects were tested on the same cushion. Two digital angle finders
were placed on the seat and backrest to determine the seat and back angles relative to the horizontal. The angle finders were calibrated weekly.
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was used to record seated pressures. The ultrathin FSA mat consists of a 16- x 16-sensor array spaced over a 43.2- x 43.2 -cm sensing area. The mat is 0.36 mm thick. There are 256 individual sensors measuring 2.38 cm2, with average spacing at 2.7-cm centers. The mat was calibrated to 300 mm Hg prior to the beginning of the study and weekly thereafter. Successful calibration was judged if error at 100 mm Hg was less than 10%. Management of sensor creep was a part of the calibration process, although this accommodation was not quantified. Creep is a term used to describe time-dependent changes in material thickness that occur over time. Human tissue, the cushion, and the pressure mat creep during loading. In addition to software accommodation of mat creep, the loading and recovery times were standardized to manage any potential creep effects on interface pressure measurement, as described below.
Procedure
The seat depth of the seating simulator was adjusted for each subject corresponding to the subject's own wheelchair seat depth. The subjects were instructed to position themselves on the seating simulator with their sacrum touching the backrest at all times. The subjects sat on top of the pressure mat that was placed over the foam cushion. Legrest length was adjusted to maintain the thigh parallel to the cushion. The knee angle was maintained consistently at 90 degrees to the seat pan throughout the testing procedure as the seat and legrest moved together when the seat inclination was adjusted. The backrest angle was maintained at 80 degrees relative to the floor at each seat angle. The subjects were instructed to sit with their arms in their laps during testing. Armrests were used only to assist with vertical lifts to unload the mat between recordings.
The order of testing the 4 different seat angles was randomly assigned. Interface pressure measurements were recorded at each testing position after 1 minute. Subjects lifted completely off the cushion and mat prior to each measurement for 2 minutes to minimize potential creep effects of the mat, cushion, and tissue. Five pressure measurements were recorded at each of the 4 test positions following this sequence, with the mean of these multiple measurements used in the analysis. Each subject's data were collected during a single testing session.
Data Analysis
Five variables were calculated from the 256-point interface pressure array of each measurement. These variables were:
Total force: The sum of the pressure readings multiplied by the sensing area of the pressure mapping system (expressed in newtons).
Contact area: (CA): The area of sensels with pressure readings equal to or exceeding 5 mm Hg, the threshold used to define "contact." For each data set, the contact area was determined as:
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| (1) |
Peak pressure index (PPI): The highest recorded pressure values within a 9- to 10-cm2 area (approximately the contact area of an ischial tuberosity and other bony prominences) under one of the load-bearing surfaces (ischial tuberosities, greater trochanters, and sacrum/coccyx). The average of all cells that fall within the specified area will be recorded as the interface pressure at that anatomical site. For the FSA map used in this study, 4 cells were averaged because its 2.38-cm2 cells are separated by 0.33 cm.
Dispersion index (DI): The percentage of pressure distributed under the ischial and sacrococcygeal regions relative to the total pressure on the seat. The dispersion index was determined as:
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Seat pressure index (SPI): A single value resulting from comparison of a resulting pressure map with that of an ideal pressure distribution. This ideal pressure distribution in a seated posture is defined as a homogeneously distributed surface at 30 mm Hg. The dimensionless seat pressure index calculation includes an average of values exceeding a threshold (mean30), a measure of dispersion (sd) of these same values, and the relative amount of the mat loaded. This calculation was made using the formula:
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The smaller the seat pressure index, the more the distribution reflects the "ideal" seating surface. For example, the imaginary "ideal" surface would have a seat pressure index of 1. A normally distributed distribution of around 40 mm Hg would have a lower seat pressure index than a skewed distribution with a mean of 40 mm Hg. A distribution is "rewarded" for having a low mean of values exceeding 30 mm Hg, having low dispersion around this mean, and having a large contact area.
In a recent study, Sprigle et al15 calculated the test-retest reliability of measurements obtained for several interface pressure variables and found dispersion index, peak pressure index, seat pressure index, and contact area to be reliable measures of interface pressure (Tab. 1). Furthermore, total force, dispersion index, peak pressure index, and contact area are incorporated in the International Standards Organization draft of the Standard for Wheelchair Seating.16
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| (4) |
| Results |
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=1,416 cm2, SD=144) and at 5.1 cm of seat drop (
=1,412 cm2, SD=147) than at 10.2 cm of seat drop (
=1,399 cm2, SD=145). No differences in peak pressure index were found. Locations of peak pressure varied across subjects (eg, right ischial tuberosity in some people, sacrum in others), but did not vary within subjects. Dispersion index results indicated that less pressure was concentrated under the ischial tuberosities as seat drop increased (P<.0001). Specifically, dispersion index was higher at 0 cm of seat drop (
=36.3, SD=0.06) than at 5.1 cm of seat drop (
=34.9,SD=0.06), 7.6 cm of seat drop (
=34.8, SD=0.06), and 10.2 cm of seat drop (
=34.1, SD=0.07). Seat pressure index was greater at 0 cm of seat drop (
=8.78, SD=2.02) than at 7.6 cm of seat drop (
=8.40, SD=2.22) and 10.2 cm of seat drop (
=8.42, SD=2.17). Using the repeatability coefficient, the comparisons showed no differences. Based on previous research using buttock models,14 contact area has a repeatability coefficient of 153 cm2, dispersion index has a repeatability coefficient of 7%, peak pressure index has a repeatability index of 17.7 mm Hg, and seat pressure index has a repeatability index of 1.38.
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| Discussion |
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The most clinically useful information may be gleaned by using the repeatability coefficients to interpret the results. The repeatability coefficient provides a measure of the 95th percentile variability and can be used to indicate the minimal amount of difference required to distinguish seat configurations. Therefore, configurations within 7% should be considered to have the same dispersion index; for peak pressure index, it is nearly 18 mm Hg. Given that the repeatability coefficients exceeded the differences between groups in all 4 interface pressure variables, we must question whether the differences are meaningful. This is not to suggest that statistical analysis is wrong because it takes into account variation, but significance tests are not tests of clinical meaningfulness.
Based on the changes in dispersion index, seat drop appears to load slightly more body weight away from the ischial tuberosities, most likely under the thighs. This increased distal thigh loading may indicate added seated stabilityone clinical indication for seat inclination or squeeze. However, these results cannot be used to identify any postural or stability changes imparted by varying seat angle with a fixed back angle because these measures were beyond the scope of the study.
Analysis of the total force on the seat showed evidence that a greater percentage of body weight is borne by the seat, as seat drop increased from 0 to 10.2 cm. These results imply that the backrests and/or footrests were taking less load. An increase in seat force is consistent with the changes in dispersion index reported and may also be consistent with an increase in stability.
Many clinicians are recommending manual wheelchairs for clients with impaired or absent trunk control to be configured with as much as a 10.2-cm difference between the rear and front portions of the seat. Anecdotally, this type of wheelchair configuration assists with maintaining balance with wheelchair propulsion, especially as a person propels up inclines. In addition to possibly assisting with stability to improve balance and functional reach, this configuration may also help control extensor hypertonicity by increasing hip and knee flexion. For people with short upper extremities, increasing the seat angle improves the ability to reach the wheel for more effective propulsion because the body is moved downward relative to the wheel axles. Although interface pressures should be measured and interpreted on an individual basis, the results of our study showed that increased posterior seat inclination does not necessarily increase seated interface pressures.
Limitations to this study include not monitoring or controlling pelvic position throughout the angle changes except to instruct the subjects to maintain their sacrum against the backrest. Pressures were measured only at the seat surface. Although this approach is consistent with clinical practice, measurement of footrest and backrest pressures may have enhanced the interpretation of the results. Further research should include measurement of the pelvic angle and investigating the effect on functional reach across different seat angles with fixed back angles. Determining the effect on seated pressures as subjects sit on cushions commonly used by people with SCI also would add to clinical relevancy.
| Conclusion |
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| Footnotes |
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This study was approved by the Shepherd Center Research Review Committee.
* Invacare Corp, One Invacare Way, Elyria, OH 44036. ![]()
Luxair, 2410 S Center St, Newton Falls, OH 44444. ![]()
Dejon Tool & Design Inc, 8750 Covington-Bradford Rd, Covington, OH 45318. ![]()
VERG Inc, Unit 355 Henlow Bay, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3Y 1G4. ![]()
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