Loop cushion
Designing a low-cost inflatable wheelchair seat cushion to prevent pressure sores
Overview
Loop Cushion is registered as a non-profit in the state of California, and I've been working on Loop since 2017. I came up with the idea for the cushion while an undergrad at MIT, and have continued the work part-time since graduating in 2019.
👩🏼💻 My role: Founder & Executive Director
👥 Team: 2 teammates, who are also both mechanical engineers
🕰️ Timeline: I have been working on Loop Cushion since 2017
Context
The World Health Organization cites that the life expectancy for people with spinal cord injuries in low to middle income countries is as low as one year. The primary cause of death is not the spinal cord injury itself, but preventable pressure sores. Caused by a lack of blood supply to tissue, pressure sores often progress to infection and death because without proper education or training, the pressure sores often go undetected as wheelchair users cannot feel it themselves. The wounds are usually only detected once they become infected, which is often too late. Furthermore, proper pressure sore treatment is often inaccessible or too costly for wheelchair users.
Wheelchair seat cushions are essential to preventing life-threatening pressure sores. Unfortunately, many users in low resource contexts receive poor quality cushions or have no cushions at all. In countries such as Indonesia, the only ways to get a seat cushion are to receive a foam cushion from NGO’s or to make your own cushion. Air cushions, such as the ROHO cushion, provide superior quality to both options, but are priced at $400. NGO’s pay just $10 for foam cushions and around $250 for wheelchairs, which puts the ROHO cushion completely out of the price range.
The Loop Cushion provides an affordable alternative to the ROHO cushion and serves as a higher quality alternative to foam cushions. It distributes pressure more evenly than foam cushions, is locally repairable, and easy to clean.
How we designed Loop
In 2017, I won $19,000 in funding to travel to Indonesia to better understand the problems wheelchair users were facing before developing a solution.
When I returned, I designed the idea for Loop Cushion. The key innovation for the cushion is the use of bicycle inner tubes, a material both cheap and available anywhere in the world.
The cushion itself consists of just two parts: a simple plastic base and 3 inner tubes looped through the base. Since it is made out of bike inner tubes, the cushion can simply be repaired or replaced by the user if broken or worn out so that the user never has to use a worn down or broken cushion.
In 2018, Shannon and I travelled to Indonesia again to gather feedback on the prototype I developed before continuing with the project. We received really positive feedback and felt confident we could continue to move forward with the project.
In 2019, Danielle travelled to Indonesia again to conduct user testing of the cushion with pressure mapping softwares to see how the cushion performed with a few hours of usage.
Iteration & validation
Since 2019, the team has worked with various partners to continue to validate the Loop Cushion and iterate on the product. The team has received in total over $40K in funding to work on the project over the years.
In 2019, Shannon and I conducted ISO testing of the Loop Cushion to compare its performance to other wheelchair seat cushions in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh.
From 2020 through 2023, the team has worked closely with SUNY Upstate and partners in Ecuador to conduct initial clinical testing of the cushion to ensure it is safe to use before producing at scale.
We are looking forward to completing clinical testing so we can make Loop Cushion available to wheelchair users worldwide.