Sleeping positions
Posted , 10 users are following.
I am day 8 post op and having terrible nights. Last night I put a bulky pillow under both my knees and had 4 hours undisturbed sleep. I have a feeling I have been told not to do this ( I was desperate and tearful) but cannot remember by who and why. My lower back is so sore as well as everything else!
Any suggestions for comfy sleep and is the pillow under the knees a No No???
1 like, 10 replies
nancypirate jan24212
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isabelle40781 jan24212
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ginger47520 jan24212
Posted
That happened to me. My muscles did shorten and physical therapy is painful to stretch them out.
Be sure to do your exercises. Hugs to you
patricia1953 jan24212
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joe79346 jan24212
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Mary8610 jan24212
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feet . Unfortunately not sleeping is one of the things we just have to put up with . Try and nap in the day ,
mary
sue59299 jan24212
Posted
i asked my consultant why there is such a huge variation on post op instructions, especially between the USA and us here in the UK. His reply was simple. Litigation! Or rather the risk of it.
get better soon! Lots of hugs to you.
DawnDedee jan24212
Posted
I agree that while laying flat, support under the knees is not breaking the 90 degree rule and helps take pressure off your lower back. When I could, I first began sleeping on my non surgery side with a pillow in between my thighs and legs to keep my hip in alignment.
Later when I began to inch myself over onto my surgery side, and I am now 8 weeks post op and am able to do this but still not for long periods of time, I found that if I placed a pillow just under my surgery side knee, it kept all the pressure off of my incision site. My incision is on the outside of my thigh.
Hang in there Jan! Surround yourself with many fluffy pillows and you will create your needed levels of comfort bit by bit.
💛 Dawn, USA
Jodi-France jan24212
Posted
You ahve to take sufficient pain relievers at this point. I used codein (2) 400 mg Tylenol with 25 mgs of codein for sleeping at night. It is important to have adequate pain relief, toughing it out is not the way to go as you will nto get enough sleep and you will be tired. Be aware that codein is very addicting (at this point that is not a worry but at around 3 weeks be paying attention) and also very consipating. I took my codein with Tylenol, drank a glass of prune juice every day and took a stool softner. Don't wait to take ths tool softner until you are constipated, take them right away with the codeine. Evenwith pain relief you are not going to be sleeping great, none of us did.
FWIW my sleeping position was (we have a king sized bed). My right leg had the THR and I sleep on the left side of the bed. I laid half on my stomach, I laid out pillowsat an angle from my stomach to the center of the bed, at downword angle. I lifted my leg by grabbing my pajama pants and lifting with my arms, I lifted my leg onto the pillows. In other words I slept half on my stomach side of my good leg and I had my bad leg laying on those pillows at a downward angle (pillows started from my stomach on my side of the bed and then flared out and down towars my husband's side of the bed) . Because I was partway on my side (stomach) I needed the bad leg to be on the pillows to keep the leg at a good height. I supported the leg from the hip all the way to the toes with pillows because I was laying in a stomach/side position on my good side, so you want that leg to lay out level with the hip, you want to keep the ball of the prostesis inside the hip and by keeping that leg elevated while sleeping halfway on my side and half way on my stomach it kept the ball inside the hip because I was elevating it.
I was always very careful to move my leg around with my arms, I grabbed my pajama pants. The hardest moves for me was moving the leg around while changing positions. T flip onto my halfway stomach side position was very scary, I always put a pillow between my legs, kept my legs straight and then rolloed, it was hard but worth it. Then once I rilled I grabbed my pajama pants and lifted the leg into the right position. You should never roll from one side to the other without the pillow between your legs and keeping your legs straight and tight together. You push yourself off the mattress with your arms, get your butt off the mattress and then roll keeping your legs straight and the pillow tight between them. It is hard to do. I hope I explained it well enough.
Hang in there, just know sleeping was really hard for all of us.
barbara17317 jan24212
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