Monday, July 22, 2013

LUMBAR SPINE INJURY -- What I needed more

Yes.  I needed a chair that fit.  After diagnosis, when I got an adjustable chair at home, I needed a low enough desk to get my arms from dragging on the desk and causing all sorts of problems.   I got my posture chair to rest my back; and that needed an ottoman, because the chair was too high.  I took action at work for once, and when the boss was away, I persuaded a man at work to lower the desk chair to my height. 

There were many places where the chairs did not belong to me.  And they were too tall, putting a lot of stress on the backs of my legs.  And at the same time, my spine was putting stress on the nerves to those legs.

Skip to after the surgery.  There were chairs in my hospital rooms.  They were all too tall, including the "potty chair" they thought I needed.  Way too tall.

Then off to rehab.  The agony of a wheelchair that was too tall for me, with a shallow sling seat with an edge that dug into my legs while putting pressure on them.  It was three days before someone came on shift and realized that the foot rests could be raised.

Then a note on the bulletin board the "the goal" set by somebody was that I must be up for several hours a day in that torture chair.  I complained, and was told there were no other chairs.  I have a high threshold, and the leg pain from that chair was many times worse than any pain from the actual surgery.

In addition, since I was post surgery, I was not supposed to bend down and tug on the sticking wheelchair lock, so I was basically trapped in the chair as I watched at least one other patient with a huge brace wheel himself to freedom up and down the hall.

Since then I've noticed that a number of chair users are in chairs with no adjustment for short legs.  Why not!? 

I also heard of a new program started by a famous manufacturer to improve patient safety and comfort.  The photos show a recliner that is too big for me, and too tall.

I'm still looking on line for wheelchairs with adjustments for leg length, and I'm not getting too far with it.  No, I don't need one now. 

Somebody does!

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