Design of a wheelchair pressure monitoring system

The application of pressure to one area of skin for an extended period of time may lead to a loss in blood flow. This in turn may lead to the formation of a pressure sore. These could be life threatening and require very expensive negative pressure treatments in order to cure. Pressure sores are a large problem for paraplegics in wheelchairs since they are seated all day and cannot feel anything from their waist down. Currently, cushions are made to distribute this pressure. These patients are also trained to perform a push-up to restore blood flow to the tissue. The proposed design is to use a pressure mapping system to measure the seating pressure of a patient and alarm them if the pressure needs to be relieved. This may reduce the occurrence of pressure sores, especially in non-compliant patients who do not routinely perform push-ups.