To investigate the clinical effectiveness of self-designed individualized sleep pad in halo-pelvic traction.

Patients with severe rigid spinal deformity who were admitted to the Department of Orthopedics of the First Affiliated Hospital of Army Military Medical University from March 2015 to August 2022 with proposed cranio-pelvic traction were selected for the study. Among them, patients admitted from March 2015 to August 2022 served as the control group, and 21 patients from January 2019 to August 2022 served as the observation group. The control group were managed with body position using the traditional method of filling multiple soft pillows. The observation group were managed by using individualized sleep pad (ZL 202222024730.8). Evaluation of sleep pad effectiveness by comparing sleep quality, comfort scores, incidence of pressure injuries and traction efficacy in both groups.

The incidence of sleep disorders in the observation and control groups was 71.4% and 95.8%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The comfort score of the observation group was significantly lower than that of the control group (4.95±0.74 vs 6.13±0.80, P<0.05). The rates of stress injury in both groups were 0 and 12.5%, respectively, the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Coronal and sagittal Cobb angles were significantly improved after traction compared with those before traction in both groups, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The correlation rate of sagittal angle in the observation group (43.83±11.10)% was slightly higher than that of the control group (37.92±15.98)%.

Compared with traditional methods, self-designed individualized sleep pad improves sleep disorders and comfort in patients with halo-pelvic traction, support the stabilization of traction, which has positive significance for the treatment of cranio-pelvic traction.