Injury Prevention Technology Research
UTARI’s work in this research area is centered on evidence-based strategies and developments for the prevention of chronic ailments and injuries.
Jump to Project:
- Smart Cushion
- Adaptive Spine Board
- Pressure Altering Shoe Insole (PASI)
- Active Sensing and Self-Adjusting Mattress (ASSAM)
Smart Seat Cushion (SSC)
The Smart Seat Cushion (SSC) is a smart, air-cell–based support surface designed to continuously monitor and dynamically manage pressure at the body interface. Originally developed to help prevent pressure injuries (PIs) in wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (SCI), the SSC addresses the key mechanical causes of PIs: prolonged pressure, tissue deformation, and shear forces over bony prominences.
By integrating sensorized air cells, a closed-loop control unit, and a graphical user interface (GUI), the SSC provides real-time pressure redistribution, automated offloading, and customizable pressure relief strategies—all while logging detailed data for clinical analysis.
Key Features
- Real-time pressure mapping: An array of embedded sensors detects load distribution in real time, capturing both magnitude and duration of pressure across critical zones like the sacrum, ischial tuberosities, and thighs.
- Adaptive Pressure Redistribution: Each air cell acts as both a sensor and actuator, sensing the load from the seated person and utilizing their pressure data in real-time to adjust the air inside the cushion to levels that optimally minimize tissue stress and shear across the body interface.
- Customizable Pressure Offloading: Through an intuitive GUI, users or clinicians can selectively relieve pressure in specific regions to accommodate pre-existing injuries, anatomical needs, or personal comfort preferences.
- Repositioning Guidance & Compliance Support: An integrated Android app provides real-time posture recognition using machine learning and gives visual, audio, or haptic cues for when and how to reposition. Users receive feedback on posture accuracy and duration, promoting better adherence to clinical protocols.
Collaborative Effort
Collaborators: University of Pittsburgh | Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation
Patents: 5 Patents till date and 1 EU patent Pending
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Adaptive Spine Board
The Adaptive Spine Board (ASB) is a smart patient support surface designed to improve safety and outcomes during emergency medical transport. Designed to sit atop of stretchers, military litters, and spine boards, the ASB helps prevent pressure injuries, provides immobilization, and reduces harmful vibration exposure during evacuation.
Key Features
- Prevents Pressure Injuries: Smart air-cell technology actively redistributes pressure to protect skin and tissue during prolonged immobilization.
- Immobilization: Lateral air cells at the head and body prevent slipping and relative body motion to ensure patients remain immobilized safely.
- Reduces Vibration Transfer: Real-time vibration sensing and damping technology reduce mechanical stress and bleeding risks during ground, air, or water evacuation.
How It Works
- Vibration Management: Inertial measurement units at the base and on the body strap provide feedback to the controller to adjust the air cell pressures in real-time to minimize vibration exposure during aircraft and ground vehicle transport.
- Real-Time Pressure Management: Automatically adjusts air-cell pressure to respond to high pressure areas on the body interface and environmental changes like temperature and barometric pressure.
- Targeted Anatomical Zoning: Five independently controlled zones—head/neck, shoulders, pelvis, thighs, and heels—protect the most injury-prone regions.
Collaborators: UTSW | USAARL
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Pressure Altering Shoe Insole (PASI)
The Pressure Altering Shoe Insole (PASI) is designed to address the gait variability in people with diabetic neuropathy to minimize biomechanical causative factors of diabetic foot ulcers (DFU). Its goal is to offload plantar pressure from high-risk regions of the foot, thereby reducing the risk of DFU. It features cyclic redistribution and offloading of pressure loading to reduce repetitive stress and loading-induced ischemia on soft tissue.
The PASI system device comprises of a Graphical User Interface (GUI), air cell array insole and a controller which contains solenoidal valves, pressure sensors, air pump and microcontroller.
Key Features
- Pressure Control of Foot Regions: Air cells corresponding to key regions of the foot can be inflated/deflated to control the interface pressure experienced in those regions.
- Test Protocol: The device has two test protocols: Static (Standing) and Dynamic (Walking)
- Cyclic Offloading: Air cells can be deflated in a cyclic pattern to allow recovery of tissue at each region of the foot during walking or standing
Collaborators: UTSW Plastic Surgery Department, UTSA Department of Orthopedics
Patent: 1 UTA patent
status: Pilot study conducted at UTSW facility
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Active Sensing and Self-Adjusting Mattress (ASSAM)
Active Sensing and Self-Adjusting Mattress (ASSAM) is a pressure injury prevention device/instrument/system for beds used in long-term care facilities, intensive care units, operating rooms, and home care. The ASSAM actively monitors & adjusts the pressure on the body in real-time to provide protection from Hospital Acquired Pressure Ulcer (HAPU), a crisis for hospitals worldwide, by creating a mapped environment in real-time on the laying surface. This enables the automated pressure modulation to relieve peak pressure areas. The current clinical protocol is to turn patients at minimum every two hours which has low compliance, <50% and fails to address high pressure points.
Key Features
- Personalized to individual patient’s requirements.
- Actively monitors and creates a pressure map of the person in real-time;
- Actively modulates to redistribute pressure to ensure no peak pressure areas.
- allows users to offload pressure then redistribute the pressure across the remainder of the lying surface to protect existing sensitive areas of the body