T.K. Martin Center holds Pressure Mapping Recreational Day
They were dealing with pressure at the T.K. Martin Center on the Mississippi State campus Friday.
Thanks to the Quality of Life Grant received from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, the T. K. Martin Center was able to have its first ever Pressure Mapping Recreational Day, where people were welcome to bring in anything they needed to
be pressure mapped, such as wheelchairs, car seats, saddles, or anything that one usually sits on.
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by advancing innovative research and improving quality of life for individuals and families impacted by paralysis. They meet all 20 of the Better Business Bureau’s standards for charity accountability and hold the BBB’S Charity Seal.
For those who are not familiar with what exactly pressure mapping is, it is a unique measurement technology that provides visual reporting of pressure between two contacting surfaces – in this case the body and the wheelchair.
Using what the reports say, T.K. Martin Center Rehabilitation Engineer Rebecca Mathis determines what areas are detecting the most pressure and simply adjusts the chair’s cushion for better comfort.
“The grant we received from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation was for us to get a pressure mapping system,” Mathis said. “There are not many of them in the state of Mississippi at all. We can use it for wheelchair evaluations, but we specifically wrote this grant to open it up not just for wheelchair valuations, because we know that individuals that use a wheelchair don’t just stay in a wheelchair. They may be sitting in a car, four-wheeler, kayak, horse saddle, tractor, or lawn mower.
“In Mississippi, we are known for being a rural area and we do a lot of things outdoors that the standard wheelchair doesn’t always handle. Being able to open this up for whatever the individual needs is a really awesome opportunity for us and for the individual, so we can hopefully prevent some of the skin breakdowns.”
Mathis explained why having a pressure mapping system is so important.
“What we’re trying to prevent is skin breakdown due to prolonged pressure,” Mathis said. “Skin can break down with paralysis due to both a lack of movement and blood flow, and to the physiological changes that occur when pressure is not relieved at a given spot. This is typically a problem for those who are paralyzed and can’t feel the discomfort like you and I can, nor have the ability to move themselves. It tends towards bony prominences, simply because there has to be that bone pressing down to cut off some of the circulation. So, this really helps us show what we can adjust on the wheelchair or any other seating surface to make it fit better.”
Mathis stated that even if you’re not in a wheelchair does not mean you’re not at risk for skin breakdown.
“I’ve known individuals in the past that were farmers that developed skin breakdown because they kept using their tractor,” Mathis said.
The T.K. Martin Center plans on having another pressure mapping day sometime in the spring and more in the future.