Pressure Sores - A major concern of immobile people

Pressure sore, also called as decubitus ulcers, occurs due to pressure and can lead to worse consequences, the familiar example is the Superman, Christopher Reeves who was succumbed to death not by a deadly accident or a fatal disease, but by his pressure sores. Now you must be thinking is pressure sore fatal.

A sore is nothing but an injury to skin or tissue due to pressure. If people who move around constantly are confined to bed as a result of paralysis, debility, or due to some disease, then they are bound to have sores developing on those areas of skin that come under pressure. It is mainly because of infrequent change of position.

Now, lets see how it occurs and how it is related to immobility. A person with mobility issues is restricted to a bed or wheelchair and stays in the same position for longer, as a result skin that in contact with the bed or the chair experiences reduced blood supply due to the pressure, which leads to in skin death. If anybody at your home is immobile you can find out the emergence of a pressure sore with the discoloration of the skin, which may appear red, black, or purple. If not taken proper care then the skin breaks open, and it goes to a stage in which wound deepens and infect bones and joints. In the later stage the wound starts discharging fowl-smelling pus, which alerts of care needed.

Knowing who are susceptible to pressure sore isn’t that very tedious, bed-ridden and wheelchair users are under high risk of developing pressure sores. Possibilities of pressure sores occurring is high in diabetics and those with circulatory disorders. Also elderly are likely to get pressure sores because their skin becomes thinner due to age. Under weight or malnourished people should be aware that chances of pressure sores developing are high due to insufficient cushioning to protect their bony parts, because pressures develop soon on bony parts of the body. For wheelchair users the tail bone is a highly prone to this ulcer, whereas other areas they originate are lower back, back of heels, back and sides of skull and knees, and shoulder blades.

Once pressure sore develops it becomes really stressful for both sufferer and care taker to treat it, and the best way to avoid this painful experience is prevention. So, when a person is immobile it is better to change their position quite often and powder the areas that are in contact with the bed. Also, you can buy pressure relieving mattresses and cushions, cpap heated humidifier that are proved to be highly beneficial in preventing pressure sores.