Medical positioning pad is a medical appliance used in the operating room placed on the surgical bed to effectively relieve patients from pressure sores (decubitus ulcers) caused by prolonged surgery, and different positioners can be used for different surgical positions. Most of you may be quite aware of the importance of maintaining a certain position for surgery, but you may don’t know exactly the existence of surgical positioners and their combination solutions. Therefore, Mofolo Med will next share a detailed description of surgical positioner with you.

Various materials

At present, surgical positioners can be divided into six types by material.

1. Sponge positioner. This kind of positioner is made of sponges with different densities and hardness, with the outer layer wrapped in cotton or synthetic leather.

2. Foam positioner. With the outer layer wrapped in cotton or synthetic leather, the positioner has a certain degree of hardness.

3. Inflatable positioner. The positioner is shaped using plastic through air cylinder pump.

4. Silicone positioner. It has excellent softness and support.

5. Surgical gel positioners. Gel is a polymer material with good flexibility, support, shock absorption and anti-crushing performance, as well as excellent compatibility with human tissue, which can pass through X-rays, is non-conductive, and easy to clean and disinfect.

In addition, surgical positioners are available in various shapes and types, such as trapezoidal pads, upper extremity pads, lower extremity pads, prone pads, triangular pads, and lateral posture pads, etc. The doctor will recommend the appropriate pad based on the patient’s actual condition in order to prevent pressure sores.

Different types of positioners

1. Ring head positioner. With the size of 25cm x 10cm x 5cm, it’s mostly used in supine surgery, cerebral surgery and quintuplegic surgery, where it can play a role in supporting, stabilizing and protecting the head from pressure sores.

2. Upper limb concave positioner. The size is usually 50cm × 15cm × 6cm, and it’s mainly applied to the patient’s upper limb, which can play a role in protecting the elbow.

3. Shoulder positioner. Its size is usually 40cm x 28cm x 9cm, and is mainly used to support the patient’s shoulder to protect the shoulder.

4. Semi-ring positioning pad. With the size of 50cm x 15cm x 10cm, it mainly plays the role of supporting and protecting the knee joint.

Various combination solutions

In fact, in addition to the level of medical care and physician expertise, the combination of surgical positioning pads and post-surgical care can also have a significant impact on the outcome of a patient’s treatment. Therefore, patients should also master basic knowledge of various combination solutions of different medical positioners.

1. Supine position

There are two main combination solutions for this surgical positioner. The first solution is tring head positioner + concave upper limb positioner + shoulder positioner + semi-ring positioner + heel positioner. The second solution is a sandbag + round pillow + shoulder positioner + hip positioner + semi-ring positioner + heel positioner.

2. Prone position

It is more common in vertebral fracture fixation as well as back and spinal deformity correction and other surgeries. There are three main combination solutions for this surgical positioner. (1) high bowl head ring + thoracic positioner + iliac spine positioner + concave positioner + prone leg positioner; (2) high bowl head ring + thoracic positioner + iliac spine positioner + modified leg positioner; (3) high bowl head ring + adjustable prone positioner + modified leg positioner.

3. Lateral decubitus position

It is commonly used in cranial surgery and thoracic surgery. There are two main combination solutions for this surgical positioner: (1) high bowl ring foam head positioner + shoulder positioner + concave upper extremity positioner + tunnel positioner; (2) high bowl head ring + shoulder positioner + concave upper extremity positioner + leg positioner + forearm immobilization strap + hip immobilization strap.