Pillows
Ah, yes, I nearly forgot the pillows. How quickly we forget and move on when the pain is gone. But for those folks needing this, it can be a life saver.
In the early years when I had a really bad migraine, and couldn’t move, moving hurt too much and I thought I would break, I would lay on my side and put a pillow under my top leg and under my top arm. It really helps for the same reasons as in my earlier posts.
All of the earlier posts about stretching exercises are passive, with no force used. And I say to gradually work up to body weight or gravity stretches. Well, this one tops the passive list. It is the King/Queen of all the land. And it really works. It’s the first thing that started healing the headaches faster and cut down on the number of days that I had one.
When you lay on your back put the pillow under your knees.
I went to this method after I lost my caregiver. They always come in and try to “turn you”. One day I realized this was for blood clot reasons and not just about bed sores. I was in so much pain, I always screamed “don’t touch me, don’t touch me”, but I later realized they were right. And it was important. When my former husband died of a blood clot, an alarm bell went off in my head. I decided I better move, whether I wanted to or not.
So use the pillows, but still try to shift as much as you can. Leg up, leg down, other leg up/down, even moving just an inch helps. Arms this way, arm that way, turn neck even if it stays on the pillow. Turnover as often as you can. Twist the spine and just shift your weight. It all really, really helps.
I found, much to my surprise, you get enough stuff going and it will outweigh the pain cycle and you will recover faster. More than that, you help prevent blood clots.
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