A mattress made of a large heavy plastic bag filled with water, used to prevent bedsores.
A bed with a flexible water-containing mattress. The surface of the bed adapts itself to the patient’s posture, which leads to greater comfort and fewer bedsores.
A bed with a water-filled mattress can help prevent bed sores in patients confined to bed for more than a few days. Its flexibility provides uniform support for the whole body. Air beds are now more often used: they are light and more comfortable and the modern version, called a ripple bed, has a motor that fills and empties tubes in the mattress. The patient’s circulation is stimulated and pressure is regularly changed on susceptible parts of the body elbows, buttocks and heels thus reducing the likelihood of pressure sores developing, particularly in the elderly.
A rubber mattress partially filled with warm water (100°F or 37.8°C). It is used to prevent and treat pressure sores.