Does Lateral Rotation Replace Manual Turns for Pressure Injury Prevention?: A Review

Support surfaces can offer a variety of rotational therapies, including continuous lateral rotation therapy (CLRT). In both rotational therapy and manual turning, the patient is rotated along the longitudinal axis; however, with manual turning the patient's posterior surface comes off the support surface. This paper will review the literature and attempt to answer the clinical question, "Does lateral rotation/rotational therapy replace manual turns for pressure injury (PI) prevention?" A literature review was undertaken, commencing with the introduction of CLRT in 1967. English language articles that were published using the search terms CLRT, lateral rotation, rotational therapy, kinetic therapy, oscillating therapy, pressure injuries, pressure ulcers, pneumonia, manual turning, and PI prevention were reviewed. Literature results that contained information related to PI were narrowed down to 9 articles and divided into 3 categories for review. The result of the review highlights the scarcity of direct evidence supporting CLRT for PI prevention. Based on the current literature, the author's practice recommendation is that PI prevention interventions such as turning and repositioning should continue to be implemented and that CLRT does not replace manual turning for PI prevention.