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beaner1

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Joined
May 8, 2007
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58
Reason
CALS
Country
CA
State
Alberta
City
Redcliff
Hi all,
I was wondering if the experts out there could advise me on a piece of equipment (or whatever!) that would help with supporting my husband's neck when he is trying to sit up - i.e. in his wheelchair. He's fine while in his special recliner, but when he has to sit in his wheelchair (which is just a regular manual chair), or when we're trying to bathe/shower, it's difficult for him to hold his head up, and he finds it difficult to breathe in that position. I tried one of those pillows that wraps around a person's neck, but he found it very uncomfortable, and couldn't breathe with it on.

Thanks in advance for any help!
Beaner
 
Beaner.....the neck weakness was a big problem for my mom as well. She was fine when she would sit on her recliner. The only thing I could think of was a neck brace. It was hard to get a brace that was comfortable for her. She did not get much support from the soft brace and she found the firm brace was too uncomfortable.
 
Someone posted pics of a home made or adapted brace here a while back. Anybody remember what it was under?
AL.
 
Use search under neck brace home made collar.
At the bottom of this page is a topic 'neck brace' by Leo Greene. It has links for different braces.
AL.
 
Thanks for your help, Anne and Al. I'll do the search and see what's there.
Beaner
 
Hi

Hi there, There was also a home made brace I remember using a baseball cap? and velcro. Do you remember that one, didn't go around the neck. I'll search. My Best to you, Beebe
 
The only thing that worked for my father (and we tried all kinds of neck braces) was homemade. We used a long cloth strap, like from a bathrobe, and I would tie one end onto the wheelchair back, loop it around his forehead and pull, and then tie the other end of the strap onto the back/side of the wheelchair. Sometimes I would also use a big, giant rubber band from a moving company. This really worked, but it looked a little barbaric. Friends would always joke about how this looked, but they understood that it worked fairly well. It got uncomfortable after a while, and he would ask me to untie his head. He could only take this for about 30 minutes at a time. It was enough to feed him a meal, or just to let him breathe and talk easier for a while.
 
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