An embedded device for health monitoring and pressure sores prevention based on an innovative textile able to measure pressures
Résumé
This talk introduces a device that aims at preventing pressure sores for persons with spinal cord injury. It is the result of ten years of research leading to an embedded device that should equip the wheelchair of the person. The recent breakthrough is the fact that this device is made of a 100% textile fabric able to continuously measure the pressures at the interface between the cushion and the buttock area. This textile is comfortable, washable and can be seen as a consumable since its fabrication process makes it low cost. The textile is connected to a small central unit embedded onto the wheelchair. This unit (i) analyses in real time the pressures, (ii) estimates the risk for internal over-stresses with the use of a subject-specific Finite Element model of the buttock area, and (iii) alerts the wheelchair user, if necessary. This alert medium has been defined as a result of a utility / utilisability / acceptability study conducted with representative end users. It is based on a tactilo-visual feedback: the tactile modality is used to alarm the person while the visual modality conveys a message about the risk. A paraplegic volunteer was equipped at home with this device during a six months period. Video cameras were installed inside his house in order to be able to correlate the recorded pressure maps with the activity of the person. This qualitative evaluation of the device was particularly interesting since it revealed some non-optimal behaviors of the person such as inadequate posture when watching TV, too rare relieve maneuvers, or dangerous behavior of the gel inside the wheelchair cushion.