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Impact of sitting time on seat-interface pressure and on pressure mapping with multiple sclerosis patients
Shelley A Crawford1, May D Stinson, Deirdre M Walsh
1Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Research Institute, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland BT37 0QB.
Objective:
To examine changes in seat-interface pressure with multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.
Design:
Case series.
Setting:
Multiple Sclerosis Society's Resource Centre and community.
Participants:
Convenience sample of 15 MS wheelchair users and 12 MS non-wheelchair users.
Intervention:
Interface pressure was measured for 8 minutes using the Force Sensing Array pressure mapping system.
Main Outcome Measures:
Number of activated sensors, standard deviation, average and maximum pressures.
Results:
With the wheelchair users, significant decreases were found in the standard deviation and average and maximum pressures during 0 to 2 minutes of sitting ( P <.01). Average pressure was the only parameter to show a significant decrease in the non-wheelchair users ( P <.01) during 0 to 2 minutes. Significant increases were found in all output parameters during 2 to 4 minutes with both groups ( P <.05). Non-wheelchair users showed no significant changes in the output parameters after 4 minutes, but wheelchair users showed significant continued increases in the output parameters from 4 to 8 minutes ( P <.05).
Conclusions:
Because no significant changes in interface pressure occurred after 4 minutes of sitting with the non-wheelchair users, 4 minutes may be a reasonable sitting time before interface pressure is recorded with this group. Significant changes in interface pressure continued up to 8 minutes with the wheelchair users, therefore 8 minutes or beyond may be a reasonable sitting time before recording with this group.
