An alternating air overlay sits on top of the client’s existing mattress and cycles air through its cells, so the pressure under the body keeps moving and does not sit on the same points hour after hour. That cycling is what gives tissue over the sacrum, heels and hips a chance to reperfuse.
It suits clients at raised risk of pressure injury who are still sleeping in a domestic bed, including people managing an existing wound at home. The overlay straps over the mattress and the pump hangs off the bed end, so a support worker can set it up without tools.
