Assistive Device for Standing-up from Bed

 

高齡者床緣坐姿起身輔助裝置

Yen-Kai Chiu  邱彥凱

 

 

  ABSTRACT :

 

Among the elderly, standing-up - from bed has been identified as one of important factor that accounts for 63.1% of all falls and injuries. Functional decline occurs among the elderly mainly due to the atrophy and degradation of bones. Degrading joints and muscular systems that comes with advanced age, result in inconveniences and limited ability for standing up from bed side. Potential risk factors may include:
1.When the elderly change body postures in their attempt to standing up from bed side , they may involuntarily fall out of balance - due to the shifting of their center of mass.
2.A change of posture might induce orthostatic hypotention: temporary decrease in blood pressure, thus causing dizziness.
3.The elderly who are afflicted with weakness in the lower limbs and still attempt to forcefully rise from bed might lose balance and subsequently fall down.

Therefore, this study attempts to offer a solution for the above issues through our assistive bed rail device. Our solution is a standing aid that provides balance, stability and disperses body weight which decreases body weight on the lower limbs. It is a culmination of our observations and assessments of the problems that negatively affect the standing-up action of the elderly, including getting up action analysis, bed-related factors review, and usability of existing bed railing assistances. As a result, this study categorized three proposed resolutions: (1) single hand auxiliary support (SH); (2) front auxiliary support (FA) and (3) single forearm auxiliary support (SF). Further experiments were conducted with middle-old and very old individuals to determine the effect of transferring body weight to upper limb, by which the body weight on the lower limbs decreased. Results show:

1. single forearm auxiliary support devices effectively minimizes load and pressure on the lower limbs by an average of 14.84 kilograms.
2. the hand rail must be positioned 6 centimeters above the elbow to effectively minimize the load on the lower limbs of the elderly.
3. The location of the hand-rail (standing aid) next to the bed should be carefully considered: It should be strategically positioned to allow effective support of upper limb when standing up from bed side.

 

 

Keywords：Elderly,  Bathroom,  Assistive,  Universal,  Usability