Creative uses of pressure mapping devices

From Pressure Mapping

[1) Stand on a seat mat and watch the person balance.

2) Wrap a mat around the grip of an apparatus and show the strength and location of the grip.

3) Find the Center of Gravity.

- Place the person in the wheel chair, on the mat

- View from the side and mark two spots on the wheel chair and arm in a line that are vertically above the center of pressure (the center of gravity is somewhere on this vertical line above the center of pressure)

- Tip the person back into a balanced wheelie

- When balanced mark a spot on the arm of the wheel chair that is directly above the axle. (The center of gravity is somewhere on an extension of the line between the axle and this spot)

- Viewed from the side the intersection of these two lines gives the height of the center of gravity.

- This gives the height and fore aft location of the center of gravity. The side to side location can be determined by viewing the wheelchair from the rear and extending another vertical line above the center of pressure. The intersection of the three lines is the 3 dimensional location of the C of G.

4) Show Hammocking of a pressure mapping mat.

Place the mat on the top of a tube approximately the size that would show the Ischial Tuberosities dropping into the tube and deep enough to reflect the envelopment of a cushion (e.g. the FSA shipping tube top). Sit on the tube. You should get readings around the edges but not in the center (assuming that you have not bottomed on the floor of the tube). Any readings you get in the center are due to electrical errors and hammocking.

5) Measuring the anesthetized level of a horse under sedation.

Since the anus is a measure of the level of sedation of a horse (too much and things get messy), you can place a rectal sphincter bung with pressure sensor around the perimeter as a measure of the anesthetic.

6) Training for bandage tightness.

To get feedback and practice getting the proper, even pressures of a tensor bandage, wrap the appendage with a pressure sensing mat and then wrap with the tensor bandage. Watch the pressures change and add up as the bandage is applied. Note the high pressure areas over the boney areas.