Bedsores also known as pressure ulcers or decubitus ulcers are ulcers which occur especially over the bony prominences of the body due to local injury to the skin and the underlying tissues because of pressure over the area for prolonged period or injury due to shearing or friction.

The most common sites for pressure sores include the heels, ankles, hips, tail bones (sacrum and coccyx), elbows, knees, ankles, scalp (cranium) etc may also be affected. Bedsores occur when there is partial or complete obstruction of blood flow to the underlying soft tissue. Excessive shearing force for prolonged period may also lead to bedsores, as shearing forces tend to obstruct blood flow through the vessels by pulling them taut.

Bedsores are commonly seen in people who are confined to bed or wheelchairs as these people maintain the same posture for prolonged period of time thereby subjecting the underlying soft tissue to excessive pressure.

There are several other factors thought to be responsible for bedsores other than shearing forces and pressure; these are protein energy malnutrition, prolonged period of wetness of skin due to sweating or leakage of urine (urinary incontinence), suffering from diseases which leads to reduced blood supply through blood vessels like atherosclerosis (where the lumen of the blood vessels are narrowed due to accumulation of fatty substance along the inner walls of the vessels), poor sensitivity of the skin to temperature and touch so that injury to skin becomes very common (as in patients suffering from neuropathy or paralysis) etc.

Apart from these additional causes responsible for bedsores there are other factors which can delay the healing procedure of the bedsores. These are age of the person, other associated medical conditions like diabetes, atherosclerosis, infection, habit of smoking, regular intake of non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs etc.

Most of the cases of bedsores are treatable as well as preventable however both prevention and treatment of bedsores in critically ill patient, frail elderly people, people who are confined to the wheelchair especially due to paralysis following spinal cord injury, terminally ill patients etc are quite difficult.

The common useful preventive measures include turning and re positioning of the susceptible person at regular intervals daily should be done so that one area of the body is not subjected to pressure for prolonged period rather the pressure is distributed evenly all around the body. Other helpful preventive measures include eating healthy nutritious and balanced diet and keeping the susceptible areas of the body dry (free from contamination with urine and stool as much as possible).