Comfort Tension Seating. What is it?

Published: 04 September 2008

The Broda Comfort Tension Seating™ “Suspension System” is the key to providing your patients with a comfortable, functional chair. Each strap conforms individually to the patients’ body, thus suspending the weight of the patient across multiple points. This strapping system reduces any risk of your patients experiencing discomfort from bottoming out (padded seat) or extra pressure from a sling type seat.  

The straps have a “memory retention,” which means that after applying pressure, they will return to their original shape within 10 seconds.

The seating base used in this system is a heavy gauge polyvinyl chloride strapping installed under tension and riveted to the seating frame of the chair.

Benefits

  1. Comfort:
    1. No chance of “Bottoming Out”
    2. Allows air circulation to help reduce heat and moisture build up
    3. Straps adjust to the size and weight of the individual, providing “individualized seating” (see pressure test)
    4. Straps are firm enough to provide necessary support for hours of sitting comfort
  2. Long Term Durability:  The strapping used in Comfort Tension Seating ™ is manufactured exclusively for Broda and will retain its firmness and resiliency over a long period of time.  The straps are fungicide and ultraviolet protected in order to enhance the length of their lifetime. Past purchasers are using chairs with original strapping that were purchased in the early 1980’s.
  3. Easy Maintenance:  The straps are easy to wipe off and the chair can be disinfected with a towel soaked in hot water and detergent. Damage to the seating surface of traditional Geri-chairs requires the purchase of expensive cushioning or whole new chairs. On Broda chairs, individual straps that are damaged, can be cut and replaced on-site without taking the chair out of service for more than a few minutes.

Seat Cushions

Broda offers one inch foam seat and back covers with a (removable) terry cloth cover for breathability. The cushions help provide additional comfort for long term sitting. The Broda chairs can be used with or without the seat and back pads, depending on the individual needs of the resident. This should be determined by the resident’s caregiver.

We recommend that residents only be seated while they are fully dressed in clothing that meets the needs of their specific condition. If after being fully dressed, a resident’s bare arms, legs, or body could still come into direct contact with the vinyl straps or vinyl pads, we recommend the use of a the Broda terry cloth covered seat and/or back pad. Direct contact of bare skin on the straps over a period of time could cause moisture on the resident, and/or cause the skin to stick to the straps. 

Broda does not recommend the use other manufacturers’ cushions on our chairs.