To provide a nursing bed capable of preventing bedsores of a care receiver while minimizing a burden on the body of the care receiver when changing posture. A nursing bed with a longitudinal dimension and a width dimension has an upper surface forming member which forms a bed upper surface on which a care receiver lies and a driving mechanism configured to move at least a portion of the upper surface forming member. The bed upper surface includes a curved surface which is curved downwardly in the width direction.

An adjustable mattress foundation includes a frame having at least one movable frame portion and a panel coupled for movement with the movable frame portion. The panel includes a lower surface in facing relationship with the movable frame portion and an upper surface. The adjustable mattress foundation also includes an actuator supported upon the frame and operable to selectively incline the at least one movable frame portion, a vibration motor, and a support suspending the vibration motor relative to the panel The support is mounted to the upper surface of the panel.

An articulating chair and a method of using same, include at least one actuator, a programmable controller, and movable upper back, lower back and seat bottom sections. In another aspect, an articulating wheelchair and a method of using same, include a seat bottom section, a lower frame to which the seat bottom section is coupled, floor-contacting wheels rotatably coupled to the lower frame, an upper back section, a lower back section, a back frame to which the upper back section and the lower back section are movably coupled, electromagnetic actuators coupled to the back sections, a battery mounted to at least one of the frames, and a programmable controller connected to the actuators and the battery.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of beds and components thereof. In one embodiment, a bed comprises a frame; a plurality of adjustable members, each coupled to the frame, and each of the plurality of adjustable members adjustable to individual positions; one or more sensors coupled to one or more of the adjustable members; and a controller, the controller configured for receiving input from the one or more sensors and determining at least one adjusted sleep setting for the occupant. The controller is further configured to control the plurality of adjustable members and adjust each of the plurality of adjustable members according to the at least one adjusted sleep setting. The adjustable members may comprise struts, slats, or a combination thereof.

A bed adjustment apparatus and method includes a linear actuator attached to a bed to move a portion of a mattress. A control box activates the linear actuator based on commands and sequences received from a remote control. The control box optionally includes a PLC to store the commands and sequences. The remote control optionally communicates wirelessly with the control box. The remote control allows a user to select and send the control box commands and sequences to control the linear actuator. The sequences are pre-installed, user programmed, received from another remote, or downloaded as desired. The apparatus allows a user to alleviate pressure points during sleep without requiring the user to adjust their sleeping position by adjusting the mattress based on a selected sequence.

The sleeping-posture-control bed system includes a bed floor including a back-lifting portion for lifting the user's back, a bed-floor support body supporting the bed floor, and a back-lifting driver for lifting the head side of the back-lifting portion. The back-lifting portion includes a back-receiving surface and a head-receiving surface tiltable at different angles. The back-lifting driver lifts the back-receiving surface and the head-receiving surface, satisfying Mathematical Formula (1):
0<x70,45y<0, and 30x+y(1) where x is the tilt angle of the back-receiving surface when tilted, and the tilt angle of the back-receiving surface when the back-receiving surface is not lifted is set to be 0; and y is the tilt angle of the head-receiving surface when the angle of an extended line of the back-receiving surface
at the tilt angle x is referred to as 0.

The invention concerns a bedsore prevention device (20) designed to be equipped to a support element of a piece of receiving furniture. The prevention device (20) has a bearing surface (22), intended to be flush with a surface of the support element and to be in direct or indirect contact with a body part of the subject on which the subject is likely to develop bedsores, at least three electromechanical transducers arranged to urge the bearing surface (22) to move, the at least three transducers being arranged along the bearing surface (22), a control unit (26) for the at least three transducers, the control unit (26) being configured to control the at least three transducers to urge the bearing surface in a phase-shifted manner in order to simulate a mechanical traveling wave along the bearing surface.

An articulating chair and a method of using same, include at least one actuator, a programmable controller, and movable upper back, lower back and seat bottom sections. In another aspect, an articulating wheelchair and a method of using same, include a seat bottom section, a lower frame to which the seat bottom section is coupled, floor-contacting wheels rotatably coupled to the lower frame, an upper back section, a lower back section, a back frame to which the upper back section and the lower back section are movably coupled, electromagnetic actuators coupled to the back sections, a battery mounted to at least one of the frames, and a programmable controller connected to the actuators and the battery.

A pressure sore prevention mattress is provided alternating pressure points on the body of an occupant that is easily transformable between two stable configurations. The four-layer mattress construction has a top foam pad, a webbing layer, a dynamic layer of deformable panels trapezoid-shaped four-bar mechanisms that deform to produce an undulating pattern of peaks, and a base. Panel geometry can determine peak height. The mattress has a spatially hollow geometry that allows natural air convection through the breathable top foam pad to enable drying of moisture as well as the use of forced air convective drying or cooling. The mattress can be transformed from one configuration to the other while the occupant is on the mattress.

An alternating pressure bed includes first and second sets of closely spaced rollers mounted in a roller frame to be mutually parallel and co-planar along a preferably horizontal plane and each being rotatable about its individual longitudinal axis, and a first drive mechanism for rotating each of the rollers in the first set in a clockwise direction and a second drive mechanism for rotating each of the rollers in the second set in a counter-clockwise direction. A mattress shielding sheet extends across and rests on the rollers, and a mattress extends across and rests on the mattress shielding sheet. Each roller has at least one surface protrusion, so that when the roller is rotated the protrusion applies alternating and varying upward pressure through the mattress.