J027053 Influence of Gatch Bed Angle on Reducing Pressure near Sacral Region in Supine Position

Abstract

Pressure ulcer is consequence of intense and prolonged mechanical loading of vascularized soft tissues, which causes cell death through metabolic deprivation and/or critical deformation. Now a pressure ulcer is concern in our country with increase bedridden elderly with expeditious advent of aging society. Therefore in this research we focused attention on the external causes of pressure ulcer generating mechanism. We measured shear stress and pressure on the skin surface under the occiput, the scapula, the calcaneal and the sacrum. Furthermore, the stress states in the body were numerically examined using viscoelastic finite element method. It was shown that the stress on uppermost of subcutaneous tissue under the sacrum greatly depended on the projection shape and the size of the sacrum.