[Mechanical restraints in the elderly: technical proposals and recommendations for use in the social environment]

There is some confusion in the national gerontological literature in the use of terms that refer to mechanical restraints. There is a lack of dialogue as regards ethical conflicts that suggest their use, as well as a significant generalization of the claims against, and the absence of positive references despite its high prevalence as shown by some authors. This paper presents some technical proposals on the definition, the use of terms, and the use of mechanical restraints in the social environment, such as putting the ethical dialogue to arguments based on the prevalence, define them in terms of their intent, agree on a classification of the different restraint methods, identify the types and levels of risk, and intervene specifically in accordance with these proposals. Finally, recommendations are added with regards to risks, the decision process, prescription and the withdrawal process.