Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2011 Jul 16;8:40. doi: 10.1186/1743-0003-8-40.
Reclining wheelchairs are commonly used to transport elderly stroke patients in Taiwan. However, there is concern that the patient's body in the wheelchair often slides forward when they return to a seated position, increasing the sitting pressure. Therefore, a novel reclining wheelchair with an ergonomic "V-Seat" was designed to prevent forward sliding and pressure sores. The use of these reclining chairs by stroke patients has not yet been studied. Thus, we investigated the effects of V-shaped and conventional seats in reclining wheelchairs on the extent of forward sliding and on the sitting pressure of stroke patients with flaccid hemiplegia and of able-bodied elders.
We recruited 13 able-bodied elders and 11 stroke patients with flaccid hemiplegia and performed 5 reclining cycles in both types of wheelchair. The amount of sliding along the backrest (BS) plane and the seat (SS) plane, the mean sitting pressure (MP), and the sacral peak pressure (SPP) of the subjects were recorded. We used the Wilcoxon signed-rank test to compare the BS, SS, MP, and SPP in wheelchairs with conventional and V-shaped seats, and we used the Wilcoxon rank sum test to compare the differences in BS and SS between stroke patients and able-bodied elders in both types of reclining wheelchair.
The BS, SS, and SPP of stroke patients were significantly lower in the wheelchairs with V-shaped seats than in conventional wheelchairs in most comparisons; however, the BS of able-bodied elders was higher in V-shaped seats than in conventional seats. The SS and SPP of stroke patients were significantly higher than those of able-bodied elders in both types of reclining wheelchair, and the BS of stroke patients was significantly higher than that of able-bodied elders only in conventional reclining wheelchairs.
The use of V-shaped seats in reclining wheelchairs can help reduce the forward sliding and sacral peak pressure of stroke patients with flaccid hemiplegia. The back displacement of able-bodied subjects when using both conventional and V-shape seats in reclining positions differs from the back displacement of stroke patients with flaccid hemiplegia when using such seats. These results are of paramount value and should be considered when prescribing the use of reclining wheelchairs to subjects with flaccid hemiplegia.
在台湾，常使用斜倚轮椅来运送老年中风患者。然而，当患者坐回轮椅时，他们的身体经常向前滑动，增加了坐姿压力，这引起了人们的担忧。因此，设计了一种新颖的斜倚轮椅，其具有符合人体工程学的“V 形座椅”，以防止向前滑动和褥疮。尚未研究中风患者使用这些斜倚椅的情况。因此，我们调查了斜倚轮椅中 V 形座椅和传统座椅对弛缓性偏瘫中风患者和身体健全的老年人向前滑动程度和坐姿压力的影响。
我们招募了 13 名身体健全的老年人和 11 名弛缓性偏瘫的中风患者，在两种轮椅中各进行 5 次斜倚循环。记录了受试者在靠背（BS）平面和座椅（SS）平面上的滑动量、平均坐姿压力（MP）和骶骨峰值压力（SPP）。我们使用 Wilcoxon 符号秩检验比较了传统座椅和 V 形座椅的 BS、SS、MP 和 SPP，并使用 Wilcoxon 秩和检验比较了两种斜倚轮椅中中风患者和身体健全老年人之间 BS 和 SS 的差异。
在大多数比较中，中风患者在 V 形座椅的轮椅中的 BS、SS 和 SPP 明显低于传统轮椅；然而，身体健全老年人在 V 形座椅中的 BS 高于传统座椅。在两种斜倚轮椅中，中风患者的 SS 和 SPP 均明显高于身体健全老年人，且中风患者的 BS 仅在传统斜倚轮椅中明显高于身体健全老年人。
斜倚轮椅中 V 形座椅的使用有助于减少弛缓性偏瘫中风患者的向前滑动和骶骨峰值压力。身体健全受试者在斜倚位置使用传统和 V 形座椅时的背部位移与使用此类座椅的弛缓性偏瘫中风患者的背部位移不同。这些结果具有重要价值，在为弛缓性偏瘫患者开处方使用斜倚轮椅时应考虑这些结果。
