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tomleewa

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PALS
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US
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WA
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Tumwater
Does anyone know how to alleviate shoulder blade & lower back pain? It happens at night when I go to sleep. I'm using pressure alternating air mattress . It doesn't help much. Lateral rotating bed is too expensive and it's not covered by Medicare.
 
I am not a doctor, but I had a slight case of frozen shoulder and had it taken care of with Physical Therapy. There are some joints in spots you don't think about and having extra body weight put on these spots may be causing pain or soreness. Those of us who don't have a lot of mobility, need to keep up the flexibility with assistance.
I don't know, but just a thought.
 
Physical therapy is a good idea. My boyfriend's shoulder almost froze after he lost the muscles there and the PT works with it a lot and got it more mobile again. She told me to try to take the weight of the arm off the shoulder supporting it with pillows while like in bed and propping the arm up while in the wheelchair.
For lower back pain she does a lot of stretching with him.
Still he has to take pain meds. The immobility and the asymmetric muscles in his body really do a lot of harm.
 
Those mattresses are designed to protect skin, not joints.

If your skin is doing well and is not at high risk, would consider a medical grade foam mattress and a latex or other foam overlay, and a latex or foam pillow. There is a good shoulder pillow on Amazon.

You also want padding under the elbows at all times -- we used combinations of travel pillows and foam blocks but if you are not supine all night, you could just attach padding that moves with you, like an elbow cup. The shoulder joints get iffy without muscles to keep them in place.

And if your legs are splaying, consider a foam-lined belt around the upper leg, and/or pressure boots tied together with a sash. The idea's to keep everything in line to avoid straining the hips, which affects the torso all the way up.
 
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