I hate sleeping on my back and am confused regarding sleeping on my side !
When can I ?
Which side ?
How do I roll over ?
My wound is healing well and is only glued but I do not want to take any risks .
Thankyou
Also thankyou for all your advice re my depression I already feel better !
I couldn't sleep on my non op side until about week 5 as it seemed to drag on the scar. I was told them to sleep when on non op side with a long pillow between legs to prevent the op leg going over and breaking the 90% rule. Sleeping on the back is horrible but it gets better as you are able to move around more freely in the bed. That's why it is good to take every opportunity for a nap during the day. It also helps to put feet up on a pillow if you have any swelling.
Thankyou
Can you sleep on operated side ?
to be honest i slept on my side straight away no op side, i did this by putting a pillow lengthways between my legs. Keeping my legs straight and waist in line with legs, using my upper body and arms to turn on my side, doing the same to go back on my back. it is amasing what a goods nights sleep can do. but any pain stop and go back onto your back. good luck
I believe, and had read, that it is better to sleep in the op side, rather than the nonop side, when you are tired of sleeping on your back. But sleeping on the op side is dependent on your comfort, the healing of the scar, etc. Mine came at about 2 months, and it was glorious, but in the beginning, I couldn't sleep a full night on that side. Sleeping on the nonop side causes more of a 'flexion', I believe, in effect a pulling on the scar and more of a angle for the new hip. But ss referenced by many others, a pillow between the legs is critical for sleeping on either side. Good luck and sweet dreams.
Hi Jay,
I am with you, I could not sleep.on my back, no matter how many pillows. I also had the glue. What approach did you have? Mine was anterior so my incision is on the front upper thigh. I slept on side about 2-3 weeks out. And though it was uncomfortable.at first, I found that sleeping on the operative leg was more comfortable. I think because.it's not dangling or dropping over the other leg and pulling on it. I used a very thin pillow between my knees not my thighs (that didn't feel so good) turning and rolling was the hardest for me, so try using your upper body and good leg to do most.of the work. I am 5 weeks out and I can.sleep on either side and my stomach. So it gets better pretty quickly.
I asked while in the hospital if I could sleep on my side and was told if it was comfortable then I could. Of course, it was not terribly comfortable but I did try it once I was home. Fairly quickly, I could sleep on both sides with minimal discomfort. I did use a pillow between my knees. I also had the glue strips. My surgeon also puts no restrictions (except driving while on pain meds) on his patients. He is a researcher also and he said it has been found that no more problems arise from those following no restrictions than those following restrictions. I was walking without any aids (crutches) and driving at two weeks. I went on to have TKR approx. 10 weeks later. This also went very well.
10 weeks on and I still can't sleep on op side. It is sore and I don't do sore anymore. I know it will come in time. Sweet dreams.
6 weeks for me Jay,
However I did a modified.
I figured as long as I kept my operated leg level with my hip I was okay.
So I lined up pillows all along my leg to prop it up and keep it high enough so that it was in a plane with my hip, I slept kind of half on my on my stomach and half on my side, with the operated leg on top.
To get into that postion is hard though. I put a pillow between my legs and I used my good leg as a pivot, and my bad leg clamped onto the pillows between my legs. I raised myself up on my arms to get my butt off the bed and then I pivoted on my heel of my good leg, to bring my bad leg over the top. That is the hardest part, pivoting over.
I kept the pillow between my legs to keep that bad leg pushed out straight, it kept my knee on the same plane as my hip. VERY hard to describe on the internet. I did that right after about 2 weeks. My butt was so sore sleeping on my back. I used Volterene cream, non prescription pain cream for the butt pain and tha worked really well. Takes about 30 minutes for it to work. You can get it over the interneet if you don't have someone who can run out and get you some. It has a slightly different name in the UK, google (diclofenac topical).
I jsut used soem Volterene pain cream tonight as a matter of fact. I was spraying a cement wall that our entrance gat is attached to, spray painting it with a somewhat large spraygun with a paint container attached. The whole thing can get pretty heavy on your arm. My back shoulder was sore from doing that spray painting so I rubbed in the Volterene pain cream and in 30 minutes pain is gone. I used to get oddball pains after my THR here and there, my shins, or my ankles or my knee, rub in the Volterene wait 30 minutes and pain is gone. In fact I am sure I used Voleterene pain cream every single night in order to get ridd of the odd little pains that prevented me from sleeping. I swear by the stuff. The 2% is better than the 1% if you can get that. It really works great on the butt pain and lower back pain you get from laying on your back.