Sleeping positions

Jan: Just one perspective here (others my differ): I was having the same problem (including my heels killing me as they seemed to dig into the mattress) and called my surgeon's office to ask if I could put a pillow under my knees while I slept on my back. The answer was "Yes"  because in this position, the 90 degree angle precaution was not being violated in any way. I had been worried because I thought I had been told that the knees should never be higher than the hip, which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.  In any case, my doctor had no problem at all with it, and I've had no related problems with doing that.  

Unfortunately it is a no no at least on my instruction sheet from surgeon.  I think sleep is one of our biggest issues.  I am not used to sleeping on my back and find sleep somewhat better now that I can sleep on the unoperated side or stomach.  Still not sleeping through the night though.  Up at least once or twice to go to the loo. Hope it gets better for all of us soon.

Jan one thing to be careful about the pillows. The muscles will contact and shorten when you ply pillows under your knees. This will happen to people who sit too much.

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

Jan, I've had my right hip done 9 months ago and have followed this forum and many suggestions have come up regarding sleep that people have tried and worked for them, as long as you get clearance from your doctor/PT, you should be ok to try them and see if they work for you.  For myself my PT told me to fold a small hand towel (almost flat) and place it under the small of my back (you should not really feel it), I did this and it took away the heel pain - she said it was caused by a nerve running down from the lower back, other people have placed a small towel/pillow on their heel that is burning (usually the op leg), or placed a ice pack on the heel to cushion it while sleeping, and these also helped these people...trust me on this one, NO sleep is one of he biggest non medical problems you will encounter....it does get better with time and it is just an unnecessary evil of your recovery....nap during the day if you can, read a boring book and it will put you under quick enough...stay strong it DOES get better!!!

That's is exactly what I am doing so I hope it's ok. I'm 5 days post op and feel the same . Good luck tonight with the zzzzzs .😊😊😊

One of the nurses caught me with a rolled up towel under my knees and told me off . After about 4 weeks I put a small pillow under myf

 feet . Unfortunately not sleeping is one of the things we just have to put up with . Try and nap in the day ,

mary 

I am 9weeks post op and I Thank my lucky stars I saw a lovely male physio in the morning I left hospital, who assured me there was no reason not to sleep on my good side, if I wanted to.  I usually sleep like this because I have Lumbar stenosis and can,t tolerate being on my back.  You have to put a pillow between your knees, so your bad leg cannot cross right over.  I was not able to do many exercises, but I was walking without crutches in a few days and able to do a mile with no problem.  I feel so sorry for all of you who are tortured by not being able to rest comfortably.

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.

Hi Jan,

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

Heads up, there is no good sleep postion, pillows, towels blankets etcetera that will provide you with a good sleep. It will only be less bad.

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.

 

Well after two weeks, I slept on my good side with a pilow between my knees to keep the operated side in a good position, so that it would not cross over the other one and also so that my knee would not be higher than my hip.  It worked anyway.