2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Mechanical Evaluation of Pressure Ulcer Prevention due to Reduced Stress in Supine Position

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23700663
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
Research Institution	Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Principal Investigator	OSHITA Kenichi 東京農工大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (60334471)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2012
Keywords	圧迫力・せん断力の測定 / 非弾性有限要素法
Research Abstract	Pressure ulcer is consequence of intense and prolonged mechanical loading of vascularized soft tissues, which causes cell death through metabolic deprivation and/or critical deformation. Therefore in this research we focused attention on the external causes of pressure ulcer generating mechanism. We measured shear stress and pressure on the skin surface under the occiput, the scapula and the sacrum. Furthermore, the stress states in the body were numerically examined using viscoelastic finite element method. It was shown that the stress on uppermost of subcutaneous tissue under the sacrum greatly depended on the projection shape and the size of the sacrum.