Supine arm cycling during the post-flap recovery period for persons with spinal cord injuries: The multi-purpose arm cycle ergometer (M-PACE) safety and pilot testing.

OBJECTIVE: To describe how using a supine arm cycle ergometer can safely reduce deconditioning experienced by patients with spinal cord injury or disorder (SCI/D) during their four to six weeks of complete bed rest after surgery to close a stage 4 pressure injury. DESIGN: This pilot project used a newly designed arm cycle ergometer (known as the M-PACE) that extends over the bed, allowing a patient to lie completely supine while exercising. SETTING: The M-PACE was designed and built at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System (MVAHCS) and pilot tested at the MVAHCS SCI/D Center. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with SCI/D, recovering from flap surgery and deemed appropriate to use the arm cycle ergometer were enrolled in the pilot study (n = 47). OUTCOME MEASURES: A pre-post six-minute arm test (6MAT), a proxy for conditioning, was conducted on a subset (n = 15) of participants before and after the supine cycling exercise training program. Participants' rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scores were collected at cessation of each 6MAT. Participants gave feedback on their perception of using the M-PACE. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: The 6MAT RPE was significantly reduced after training with the M-PACE while on bed rest (P = 0.003). Also, significantly more rotations were performed after completing the training program (P = 0.02). Further, study participants who accessed the M-PACE found using it helped offset the tedium of laying supine during flap surgery recovery. The differences in the 6MAT pre- to post measures indicate the M-PACE should be further studied for offsetting the normal deconditioning that occurs with extended bedrest.

Visualization of user interactions with a pressure mapping mobile application for wheelchair users at risk for pressure injuries.

Pressure injuries for individuals with spinal cord injuries (SCI) are correlated with mortality and are a leading cause for rehospitalizations. The Assisted Weight Shift (AW-Shift©) is a mobile pressure mapping application designed to provide users with a live map view and reminders to perform weight shifts. Novel visualization techniques were used to understand daily distributions of user interaction wit h AW-Shift©. The date and time of system interactions were recorded for six participants with SCI over 7 days (five males/one female, five manual users/one power user, 55.3 ± 17.3 years old, 10.6 ± 6.5 years since injury). Circular frequency plots were created to visualize the time and frequency participants brought the app to the foreground of their phone and received alerts and reminders to complete weight shifts. While some participants used the system regularly throughout the day, others primarily used it before 8am; highlighting the system's importance for regular spot checks and morning wheelchair setup. Participant adherence to weight shift reminders was low suggesting the live pressure map may be more useful. Circular frequency plots can be used by clinicians to more easily review large amounts of patient data. Future work will investigate raw pressure mat data and create a closed-loop weight shift detection algorithm.

Development of a comprehensive mobile assessment of pressure (CMAP) system for pressure injury prevention for veterans with spinal cord injury.

Objective: This paper reports the iterative redesign, feasibility and usability of the Comprehensive Mobile Assessment of Pressure (CMAP) system's mobile app used by Veterans with SCI.Design: This three-year, multi-staged study used a mixed-methods approach.Setting: Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, Minnesota.Participants: Veterans with spinal cord injury (N = 18).Interventions: Veterans with spinal cord injury engaged in iterative focus groups and personal interviews, sharing their needs and desires for the CMAP app redesign. App developers used these data for the redesign. The redesigned CMAP app was tested for six-weeks in users' homes.Outcome Measures: Quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (interviews) methods measured feasibility for self-management of seating pressure. Qualitative data were audio recorded, transcribed, anonymized, and coded. Survey data were analyzed using summary statistics.Results: After the CMAP system's redesign, the in-home use interview found: (1) any tool that can assist in prevention and monitoring of skin ulcers is important; (2) the desired key features are present in the app; (3) the main barrier to CMAP use was inconsistent functionality; (4) when functioning as expected, the live pressure map was the central feature, with reminders to weight shift also of high importance. The survey found: power wheelchair users tended to score closer than manual wheelchair users to the positive response end ranges on two separate surveys.Conclusions: Overall both the power and manual wheelchair users reported that they wanted to use the system, felt confident using the system, and that the functions of the system were well integrated.