Prolonged Sitting

Prolonged sitting could be an occupational hazard (chained to office desk) or it could be due to existing morbidity. However, in both cases, it degrades metabolic profiling of the body with high levels of triglycerides, low levels of HDL cholesterol and decreased insulin sensitivity. One of the physical impact would be more pressure sores in areas of high weight stress accounting for back pains, hip pains, difficulty in walking due to increased weight (obesity) and in turn, affecting overall health.

Prolonged sitting should be avoided by taking appropriate breaks during work while adding moderate to intense exercise regimen in your daily schedule. The posture of sitting is also essential for better spinal care and overall health status. C3I Gel Technology offers numerous products that can be added to your normal schedule to reduce physical impact of prolonged sitting on associated body parts (in terms of pressure sores). It includes 

Back Rest (to provide support to your spine while sitting for hours); Seat Cushions (Work place chairs with such gel seat cushions prevents pressure impact on hips); Car Seat Cushions (it reduced random pressure impact on long drives); Garden Mats (it reduces impact on knee while sitting in gardens working for many hours) and; Toilet Seat Cushions (it reduces pressure impact of toilet seat on fragile skin of old people). Leisure time occupies more sitting especially besides pools, add Pool Chair Cushions  to your lifestyle to reduce physical impact of such sitting on the body. Shower Chair Gel Cushions provides cushioning and comfort while taking bath. It is essential to understand such lifestyle products add artificial cushioning to your lifestyle preventing pressure build up on various body parts, however does not provide any solution to the impact on metabolic profiling for which moderate to intense exercise schedules along with diet/ weight management is recommended. 

1. Are you sitting on laptop / office chair for continuous hours? Use back rest & Sitting seat cushion.
2. Are you wheel chair bound morbid person ? Use Wheel chair cushion or gel universal pads. 
3. Are you driving long distance in your car? Use Car Seat Cushion
4. Are you interested in gardening and do often ? Use Kneeler Gel Cushion

Tender, painful, firm, soft unbroken skin, light color skin blanch (lightens briefly) & darker skin discolored 

 Shallow pinkish wound with progressive loss of outer and inner layer of skin (might be fluid filled blisters)

 Crater like ulcers with loss of skin exposing fat (yellowish dead tissues)

 Exposure of muscle, bones and tendons with bottom of wound with dead tissue loss

Stage I and Stage II bed sores can be treated by conservative care of wound and appropriate care, might take six to eight months. Stage III and IV are difficult to treat. Reposition yourself on wheelchair in every 15 min and those confined to bed should be repositioned every 2 hour (use positional aligners in operation theatres). Use support surfaces (compare air-fill, water-fill, foam and gel technology) for preventive care. 

 (a) Cleaning of wounds and application of dressings  (b) removal of damaged tissue by surgical or mechanical removal, autolytic (enzymatic induction to breakdown tissue) or external enzyme application  (c) pain management using specific interventions(d) Antibiotics applications (oral and external application)  (e) Healthy diet routine  (f) Management of bowel and urinary incontinence  (g) Relief care for muscle spasms  (h) Vacuum assisted closure of clean wound. A pressure sore that fails to heal may require surgery to prevent cancerous growth.  

 Tailbone or buttocks; Shoulder spades and spine; Backs of arms and legs where they rest against the chair

Shift your weight frequently for every 15 min; Lift yourself if upper body part is not morbid; Use specialty wheelchair allows you to tilt them and; select a gel cushion to relieve pressure. 

Chillax Wheel Chair Cushions/ Pads; Mattresses Gel Overlays; Massage Creams; Body Butters

Back of sides of bed; Rim of the ears; Shoulder or shoulder blades; Hip, lower back or tail bone; Heels, skin behind knees & ankles 

• Reposition yourself frequently
• Use trapeze bar to help you reposition
• Use Bed Sore Mattresses Overlay
• Adjust elevation (not more than 30°) to prevent shearing

Gel Foam Pillows to protect bony areas, relieve pressure between knees and ankles or float your heels 

Positioners for Comatose patients and persons under surgery.  

Mattresses Gel Overlays; Patient Positioning Devices

Surgical positioning especially during prolonged surgery is an important task preventing any pressure or illicit physiological response. Prone positions post anaesthesia for longer durations is linked with pressure applied and its applied time (it is advisable to provide intermediate release of pressure); body physiology and age compatibility along with damage incurred by pressure, shear and frictional impact also make patient vulnerable. It cause multiple pressure sores at various sites. Proper patient positioning on the operating table padded with organogel padding is essential to allow optimal surgical exposure and to prevent neuromuscular injuries. Dependent portions at risk for compression injury on body parts i.e., eyes/ ears; penis/ scortum; breasts; fingers and; pendulous injury (table related injury).

There are numerous surgical positions and their relative impact differs in terms of body part affected. Some of these are:

1. A prolonged operation in the lithotomy position can put pressure on the lower leg and lead to neuromuscular dysfunction especially extremities. 
2. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common disorder of the inner ear’s vestibular system, which is a vital part of maintaining balance. BPPV follows surgery as a result of the trauma on the inner ear during the procedure combined with a prolonged supine (laying down face-up) position. 
3. Positioning is even more critical in robotic surgery because it must provide access to the surgical field and also accommodate the robotic camera system and working arms. 
4. Trendelenburg position (normal or reverse i.e., head is 15deg down / raise the bed level) cause cardiac and pulmonary issues. 
5. Sitting on beach chair (semi-flower) position effects all three i.e., cardiac, pulmonary and nerve tissues. Pressure points in the sitting position include the occipit; scapula; elbow; sacrum and heels. 
6. Jack Knife position in which buttocks are raised may cause reduction in cardiac output; functional residual capacity of lungs could be reduced by 20% and affect nerve tissue too. 
7. Lateral Decubitus position (side lying) requires specific bean bags; special hip pads; pillows and overhead armboard for upper arm and auxiliary rolls (blanket or foam). Flexed Lateral Decubitus position (here side lying with head and feet are lower than its mid-section) is prone to positional impact too. 
8. Patients positioned on fracture table (in supine position) require positional care during operative surgery. Supine position refers to a dorsal state i.e., lying on his / her back; knees are flexed with positional products.  

Imagine a person who is not allowed to turn or change his / her position, the body parts received continuous compressions on skin and underlying tissues both from the surface on which person is lying from one side while bony part from other side. If such pressure is not relieved or removed, it leads to pressure sores due to lack of oxygen and nutrients in this area. The bony prominences are prone to significant damage like head, shoulders, elbows, sacrum, hips, buttocks, knees and heels. To redistribute the pressure evenly a cushioned surface with extreme elastomerism is essential to manage the elements of shear, friction and pressure on the site. It may starts building up with in less than two hours, however age and health status of the patient is a determining factor. An estimate revealed that in more than 20% of prolonged surgery cases, the probability of such pressure sores is inevitable. Such occurrence is both cost intensive in terms of longer recovery time and in some cases, it is a medico-legal issue too. Thus, this is priority area to have skills to manage such unwanted stress and the measure is only prevention of occurrence of such ulcers by artificially cushioned them with contoured organic C3I gel technology based MedigelTM positioning devices.

During various operative states, numerous positions are required and such immobilised body parts require positional devices with no negative pressure induction wherein C3I Gel Technology plays a critical role. As compared to rubber, latex, foam, silicone and any other product line, C3I Gel offers complete elastomerism  along with  cushioning and comfort,  such that no pressure is induced on any aligned or relieved body parts supported during such prone positions.