Anybody who has to make use of a wheelchair frequently runs the danger of incurring harm from poor circulation. Kalogon believes it may well mitigate this widespread however doubtlessly life-threatening situation with a sensible cushion that forestalls anyone a part of the physique from being compressed for too lengthy — and it has already caught the attention of the VA.
Stress accidents are precipitated when part of the physique can’t get sufficient blood to it and the tissue begins to die. Most individuals have skilled the beginnings of it, like one thing tightening round a finger and slicing off bloodflow, but it surely’s not all the time so exterior, painful or apparent.
“Particularly if they’ve decreased sensation, nearly anybody who sits for an prolonged interval is in danger for stress accidents,” mentioned Kalogon founder and CEO Tim Balz.
Definitely the shift to distant work has everybody questioning whether or not sitting for too lengthy is damaging their physique indirectly or one other. However this goes properly past a sore again; individuals who can’t arise and stretch, or really feel the stress or ache which may sign an actual downside, are prone to severe hurt. Stress accidents have an effect on hundreds of thousands and result in the deaths of 1000’s of individuals yearly.
The answer, in concept, is to cut back the stress on the assorted elements of the physique which are most affected — basically the butt, thighs and tailbone space.
This may be performed by the individual if they’ll bear in mind to “offload” by leaning this manner for a couple of minutes to take the stress off, then do it once more on the opposite facet, then ahead, and many others. — and do it consistently. Unsurprisingly, adherence to this type of self-care is just not significantly excessive.
Getting a sculpted cushion is a step up — you purchase an costly foam one, then have it shaved down or compressed to accommodate the contours of your physique. However Balz identified that this solely actually works for a short while — your physique modifications and the cushion doesn’t, so after a month or two you must customise it once more: expensive and time-consuming.
Extra just lately there have been smart-adjacent cushions fabricated from a pair of interwoven cushions which are crammed and deflated in sequence, alternating in order that stress isn’t all the time on one spot. These could also be higher, however the issue with them is that they nonetheless permit stress to construct up in ache factors as a result of the realm of stress discount is small. And as Balz identified, “the possibility of harm on an IT vs a thigh is like an order of magnitude distinction, so it is not sensible to deal with them the identical.”
Kalogon’s app for adjusting the cushion’s stress zones. Picture Credit: Kalogon
Kalogon’s resolution, a cushion known as the Orbiter, has 5 distinct areas, akin to the tailbone and left and proper thigh and butt areas typically. By conserving 4 of the 5 inflated, the consumer is supported adequately and a complete space is relieved of stress. Then a couple of minutes later it slowly shifts that stress to the following area, and so forth.
Right here’s a diagram of stress being redistributed from the tailbone area to elsewhere (darker and inexperienced means greater stress):
“Once you sit down on it, now we have a primary machine studying algorithm that at its default settings does its finest to accommodate your physique, however you possibly can customise it to suit,” Balz mentioned, both utilizing a companion app or with the assistance of a caregiver or clinician. After setting its regular sequence, the cushion additionally displays stress on the totally different areas so it may well shift otherwise if the consumer is leaning ahead or to the facet for longer than normal (typing, as an example, or dozing).
When the cushion deflates the rear heart space, stress is diverted to the entrance, permitting higher bloodflow to the sacral space. Picture Credit: Kalogon
“By having 5 cells which are independently controllable, we will transfer separately and tune that motion — assist the physique however drop down one of many cells. If you happen to have a look at a stress map, you’ll see that the stress drops under the generally accepted threshold,” he continued.
The entire thing is powered by a battery and pump unit that clips to the wheelchair, and has sufficient energy in-built to final for 14-16 hours at default settings (redistributing weight each three minutes). Customers have complimented the Orbiter as an enormous enchancment over peculiar or semi-smart cushions. One mentioned it allowed him to take a seat in his chair with out discomfort for 4 hours, which he hadn’t performed in years.
You may see it being arrange and demonstrated within the video under:
Regardless of the glowing critiques, it’s tough to show the efficacy of this sort of setup, Balz admitted, as a result of there’s simply not numerous scientific knowledge on it but. Whereas there are typically agreed-on useful practices like offloading stress, there isn’t some worldwide board of cushion testers that evaluates this stuff. Although the corporate has carried out quite a few case research with customers, there’s no massive examine saying the cushion reduces threat by some share. They will, nevertheless, say that it achieves the same impact to offloading, which everybody agrees is an effective apply.
That mentioned, the VA took an opportunity on Kalogon in a number of circumstances the place there was severe threat or an present harm and Balz mentioned they’ve been very pleased with dozens of deployments. Whereas the outcomes aren’t official sufficient to be printed, the truth that the VA is ordering extra and dealing with them on a examine utilizing the system signifies confidence.
The cushion launched in February beginning at $2,000 and is classed as a medical system that may be paid for by quite a lot of means, although it isn’t going to be coated by insurance coverage or Medicare or the like simply but. That’s within the playing cards, Balz hopes, however for now they’re specializing in the “dozens” of VA facilities which are actively recommending Orbiters. Naturally there are various veterans who may use the product, and a VA clinician endorsing it makes it extra inexpensive.
Kalogon simply raised $3.3 million in seed funding, led by SeedFundersOrlando, with participation from DeepWork Capital, VenVelo, and Sawmill Angels. It additionally collected federal grant cash from the U.S. Air Pressure (make of that what you’ll). The funding will go towards scaling the corporate and, in fact, assembly demand.
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