Wheelchair pressure monitoring alert system for the reduction of the occurrence of pressure sores

The development of pressure sores put patients at a high risk for developing infections and cause costly medical bills. It is important for wheelchair bound patients to constantly adjust positions in order to relieve pressure to decrease their chances of developing a pressure sore. The patient needs to adjust themselves at least every two hours in order to relieve the external pressure that is being applied to the capillaries. Pressure sores begin their formation when an external pressure greater than 32 mmHg is applied on the capillaries, leading to tissue ischemia. The proposed design will monitor and alert (through a visual and audible alarm) a wheelchair bound patient when to adjust their current positioning in an effort to restore tissue blood flow. The real-time system will consist of a custom written LabVIEW program and the Tekscan, Inc. CONFORMat pressure mapping system along with the API 2 software package. The system may prevent pressure sores from developing by alerting the patient of the appropriate time to perform a positioning adjustment.