Vicair Vector O2 – 6cm

"To me, the Vicair Vector cushion meant no more pain!"

By the time I was using my wheelchair on a daily basis, sitting in it started to hurt more and more. My technical advisor introduced me to the Vicair Vector 10 cushion. It was love at first sit! No more pain when sitting, the pain in my tailbone disappeared and the cushion offered me so much more stability! Super! Besides that, I really love the fact that the Vector is really lightweight.

Clinical Case: Accommodating differences in mass with a Vicair Vector O2

Snippets of the Conclusion:
Immediately after the adjustment, we can observe an improvement in Mr. R’s position. It was easily spotted by the line of his shoulders that is now positioned straight. He also immediately indicates that he feels more supported. Mr. R tells us that he no longer experiences the sensation of sliding forward. A very positive change is that he now also prefers to stay in his wheelchair for daily activities. In restaurants, for example, he used to transfer to another chair but now prefers to stay in his wheelchair. It shows a high level of comfort that he now can remain in his chair all day. Last he indicates using his new Vector O2 on holiday this summer during very warm weather and confirms that the cushion’s breathability really supported temperature control – his old cushion was a lot warmer.

Clinical Case: Enhancing positioning and maintaining skin integrity, by using Vicair cushions

Snippets of the conclusion:
Instead of sitting on top of her seating and being pushed forward, Miss Y is immersed into it, therefore cradling her dislocated hips and filling all the gaps at her spine to give improved support. There’s no longer a case of reddened areas as aggressively as before on her left ischial tuberosity and when it occurs it is resolved after an evening in bed. With her new seating solution she is also able to mobilise longer in her wheelchair without the same degree of concern for her skin integrity. The Vicair Vector O2 has also been a welcome change for the standard 10 cm high cushion as it offers the ability to be washed off by machine washing.

Clinical Case: Addressing a positioning challenge and handling shear forces involved

Snippet of the conclusion:
After two weeks of testing his new set up, Mr. C. indicates that he barely uses his positioning belt anymore. This in itself for him is a great achievement as after previous changes he was never able to do this. Mr. C describes his new Vicair knee pads as being ‘perfect’, he experiences less pressure or better distributed pressure and clearly observes less redness of his knees.

Clinical Case: Reducing pressure ulcer incidents and saving money in staff maintenance time, by using Vicair cushions

In our facility 9% of the residents experienced pressure injury incidences. Additionally, staff spends time maintaining and checking products daily. Resulting in a significant amount of time being spent on maintenance on a weekly basis, taking time away that could be spent on patient care.
We introduced the Vicair products to a group of residents as the standard offering in an attempt to save money in staff maintenance time, reduce pressure ulcer incidence, and ultimately build our facilities reputation as a quality facility when it comes to patient care.
The percentage of residents with pressure injury incidences decreased from the initial 9% to 1%. In every case, the patient loved the comfort of the cushion and the therapist love the ability to individually customize the cushions to the patient.
The switch to Vicair cushions helped our bottom line.

Measuring Pressure interface and shear on cushions fitted correctly versus upside down

At a recent seating seminar therapist were asked if they had experienced a client sitting on their wheelchair cushion placed upside down? The answer was yes! 80% Had experienced this more than once. Asked if in their opinion would this place their client at further risk? The Majority answered “Yes”! If the cushion is placed incorrectly in the chair. How can we minimise risk for pressure & shear?
The following 3 cushion types had their data measured: Vicair Aircell cushions, Flotation cushion and a Gel cushion.
The tools used where a pressure-map and an iShear. iShear is the world’s first tool to measure total shear force in the seat of a wheelchair.

Postural stability is an important factor for independence and social functioning, which leads to increase of quality of life experienced by wheelchair users. Furthermore, the role of trunk control on shoulder injuries may be an important consideration in mitigating injury and improvement of wheelchair propulsion.

Therefore, selection of an adequate wheelchair cushion is of utmost importance to ensure a satisfactory quality of life for wheelchair users. An increase of postural stability in a sitting position can be obtained by using a compartmented air cell cushion.

Can you imagine that the cushion in your wheelchair can make the difference between being able to reach that cupboard or not?
The Vicair wheelchair cushions give the largest increase in reach in this test. More than twice as much as what is considered a meaningful change in the horizontal direction on the Vicair Vector O2.

When investigating pelvic obliquity it’s important to take into account the following two effects, both of which can be positive depending on the user:

1-into a different position.
2-Correction: the cushion supports the pelvis to achieve a more horizontal pelvic, resulting in a more neutral posture.

Selection of an adequate wheelchair cushion is of utmost importance to ensure a satisfactory quality of life of wheelchair users. Increase in postural stability in a sitting position can be obtained by using a compartmented air cell cushion.

Vicair cushions offer very good resistance against sliding and pelvic tilt. Out of the box, the Vicair cushions are already a better choice compared to the tested Jay J3 cushion (30 – 63% better). The Vicair Adjuster O2 is, out of the box, better than the set ROHO Quadtro Select (12% better). When the Vicair Vector O2 is ideally adjusted for the indenter, the positive difference becomes more apparent (16% better, 24N difference).

Postural stability and the effects of wheelchair cushions

Benefits of postural stability when choosing a wheelchair cushions

Postural stability refers to the continuous process of postural changes during sitting. The capacity to maintain postural stability in sitting position is a prerequisite to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) and reduce risk of shoulder injury, but also social functioning, satisfaction with the equipment, and thus quality of life.

Moisture at the skin cushion interface in wheelchair users

Summary: Focus should be on protecting the user not the cushion with an incontinence cover

The skin performs a variety of important physiologic roles including protection from environmental exposure, preservation of internal homeostasis and thermoregulation amongst others. [Gray, 2011]
Moisture associated skin damage (MASD) pathophysiology is related to both recurrent chemical and physical irritation to the skin barrier, triggering inflammation and subsequent skin damage.

Additional research on moisture at the skin cushion interface in wheelchair users

Summary: Prolonged exposure to moisture makes the skin MASD (Moisture Associated Skin Damage) and pressure injury
The skin performs a variety of important physiologic roles including protection from environmental exposure, preservation of internal homeostasis and thermoregulation amongst others.

How effective is washing your Vicair wheelchair cushion?

The importance of cleaning your wheelchair cushion

Is there a risk of bottoming out when using a Vicair cushion incorrectly?

does washing a vicair cushion affect pressure redistribution?