This is a artical from Canadien press

EDMONTON — Tighty Whities, meet the smart pants — underwear that can save your life.


A team of Alberta researchers is developing underwear they hope will prevent life-threatening pressure ulcers for people who are immobile or paralyzed.

"This underwear may prolong my life," said Warren Fleury, a 44-year-old whose spinal cord was severed between his shoulder blades during a 1989 car crash, leaving his lower body paralyzed. "I'm very excited because since I've been trying it, besides (reducing the chance of) pressure sores, it's actually relieved some of my pain."

A pressure ulcer forms when a person stays in one position for a long time without shifting or turning over.

That increases pressure deep inside the muscle, breaking it down and creating an inflammation that isn't felt by those who have lost sensation and isn't noticed until it comes to the surface, sometimes resulting in fatal infections.

Pressure sores can also start as skin abrasions or with excess moisture, and cause blisters and life-threatening craters.

Fleury said two of his friends have died from pressure ulcers.

The smart pants are being developed by a team led by University of Alberta cell biology professor Vivian Mushahwar. They will be equipped with sensors that detect increased pressure and lack of oxygen in the buttocks muscles of people bound to a wheelchair.

When the pressure gets to a certain level, the electric undies will emit a jolt of electricity for seven to 13 seconds that will clench the muscles as in exercise and recirculate the blood.

"We're hoping we can restore this subconscious fidgeting to people who are unable to move so that they don't develop pressure ulcers," Mushahwar said.

The technology could be used on people with spinal-cord injuries or those with degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis and ALS, commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease.

Preliminary data suggests the underwear might do a better job of easing pressure than the traditional way of having nurses regularly turn a person over.

Nurses are sometimes required to shift patients every 10 or 15 minutes.


The volunteers who do have some sensation are telling us that the electric stimulation is giving them much more relief than just lifting," said Mushahwar, who has been working on the underwear concept for five years.

With $5 million from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, Mushahwar will be working with nurses, medical scientists, engineers, doctors and rehabilitation specialists to move her idea into the real world by testing high-tech briefs or boxers on patients in four Alberta care centres in one year.

Mushahwar said the underwear will be made out of a very thin, breathable, form-fitting material such as Lycra that doesn't crease.

"It would save the health-care system tremendously," Mushahwar said. "We're talking billions of dollars annually. If we can prevent them before they even start, and if we can cut that incidence by half, then we're doing superbly well," Mushahwar said.

OH CANADA! Time to get rid of my homer simpson boxer shorts...........

sounds funky!

$5M will buy a lot of spandex! At first I thought Mushahwar was probably a fruity pedal-pusher... (You know how they all like to show off their shrink-wrapped derriers to any and all who will look.)

But then I saw the "he" was a "she..." Oh well. So much for that theory!

...now with a little conductive gel in the front, this could be a lot of fun.

Trust us Canadians to come up with something like this. Lord.

I wonder if it will come in a trendy "thong" style?
Stella