Seated pressures in daily wheelchair and sports equipment: investigating the protective effects of cushioned shorts

Abstract

Study design: The primary study design was a pretest and posttest study performed in a single session with subjects as their own control. We summarize three integrated and sequential studies. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate whether commercially available cushioned shorts would add skin protection when used in adaptive sports equipment (AE). Setting: Community in Tacoma Washington, USA. Methods: TekScan Pressure Mapping System for recording average (AP) and peak (PP) seating pressures. Part 1. Pretest/posttest design, subjects as own control. Eight adults with SCI (C5–T6) mapped in daily wheelchair and AE with and without bicycle shorts. Part 2. Sixteen able-bodied subjects were mapped with and without an impact short and full-coverage short in a hand-cycle. Part 3. One individual with T5 SCI was mapped with and without a full-coverage short in personal basketball chair and mountain hand-cycle. Results: Part 1. Significant differences between the daily wheelchair and AE in the static condition for AP and PP and AP in the dynamic condition. Bicycle shorts showed no significance. Part 2. Impact shorts increased static PP and AP. The full-coverage short decreased static AP. Part 3. The full-coverage short increased AP and PP in the basketball chair. In the mountain hand-cycle, AP decreased but PP increased. Conclusion: Athletes who are static in their AE may be at greater risk of tissue breakdown than those actively playing. Cushioned shorts had highly variable effects on seated pressure in adaptive equipment. Pressure mapping is recommended prior to using any cushioning in AE by the SCI population.