Microclimate evaluation of strap-based wheelchair seating systems for persons with spinal cord injury: A pilot study.
Christine M Olney, Amanda Simone, Kristin Hanowski and 4 others
PMID 30008299WHAT IT FOUND
Strap-based wheelchair seats for Veterans with spinal cord injury did not differ from usual seats at the skin-seat interface, but thermal images showed solid strap seats cooled faster after use.
Key findings
01At the end of sitting, neither strap-based seat differed significantly from the usual seating systems in temperature or moisture adjacent to the skin-seat interface.
02Immediately after transfer, the solid strap seat was significantly cooler than the usual seating systems, while the perforated strap seat was not.
03Five minutes after transfer, both strap-based seats were significantly cooler than the usual seating systems.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only six male Veterans completed the study, so it is a small pilot and cannot establish results beyond these six participants. The study measured temperature and moisture, not pressure injury occurrence. Temperature and moisture were measured with one sensor placed adjacent to, not between, the skin and seat. The seat covers were not standardized across the seating systems. The foam-based and air-cell-based comparison seats were combined into one reference group. P-values and confidence intervals were not adjusted for multiple comparisons. Initial temperatures near the skin-seat interface ranged from 28.04°C to 34.71°C, and initial moisture ranged from 30.07% RH to 68.83% RH.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that strap-based seats prevent pressure injuries or improve the skin-seat microclimate. The study measured six men for 100 minutes, did not test pressure injury occurrence, and found no significant differences in temperature or moisture adjacent to the skin-seat interface.