My wife Mary has Parkinson’s. I appreciate any help you give me. She likes to spend many hours in her chair, at her desk. She draws, watches youtube, reads newspapers.
But her body slumps very heavily to the right. We tried many solutions. So far, zero success.
She’s almost fallen from her chair many times. Things we tried so far: lean her chair close to a wall (but her body still uncomfortably slants to the right); putting a belt around her and the chair, which she can unfasten herself (kind of works); placing a vertical board along her chair on the right, to block her from going to the right (doesn’t work, because her right arm gets blocked that way, and she’d can’t use her arm/elbow).
Tomorrow, the carpenter comes to the house to look for more ideas. The aides also tried ideas. As you can imagine it’s very tiring for Mary to hang onto the desk with all her might so she doesn’t fall towards the right. She uses one hand to hold the desk or armrest. She can never have two hands free.
Thanks for any, all ideas!
The carpenter, seamstress and PT came.
Many ideas are being tried out; drawings. I’ll let you know. This will take some days.
THANK YOU.
A carpenter, seamstress and PT walked into a bar…
This is a chair that swivels, rolls and can be locked in place. It's heavier, so may not tip as easily.
It seems like bracing your wife to the chair (perhaps with a velcro vest arrangement?) might be worth a try.
Maybe something like this:
https://www.vitalitymedical.com/posey-torso-support.html
Your other idea:
velcro vest.
We thought of that - do you have a link please? We don’t know where to buy.
Thanks!
The carpenter comes today. But we need some days to try things out. I’ll let you know how it works out. Our hope is that the velcro/belt idea works (the carpenter had suggested this right away). And I see many of you suggesting this. THANK YOU.
I did want to comment on walkers. A neighbor's wife suffered from Parkinsons. He told me when Parkinsons people fall they fall backward not forward. His wife had a walker designed to help with this problem. Had something to do with the way it was weighted in the front. Just giving u a heads up if you weren't aware of this.
Poor her.
All of you - thank you for your help. We continue to try different solutions.
Latest solution:
Negative (what didn't work):
-Belt/velcro: uncomfortable, feels like a straightjacket
-Back brace: can be painful after some hours
Positive (what might work):
-The carpenter today built a vertical board, to be placed on the right side of the chair, with a hole/empty space in the bottom, so that my wife can easily move her right elbow/arm. The top part of the board will have en elongated horizontal thing that sticks out, so that my wife can lean her head against this, and in this way, her body doesn't lean to the right, while at the same time she can freely use her right arm. He returns next week to experiment some more.
-Some of you mentioned other types of chairs, cushions; we're looking into it.
Happy Easter everyone!
I'm sorry Mary is going through such a thing and I hope your carpenter comes up with an answer. If so, please come back & share it with us here on AgingCare. Good luck!
I’ll definitely post any solution we find.
David
By the way, Oliver Sacks was a very famous neurologist and a wonderful writer.
They call Moonpods (and Yogibos, another brand of the same thing) "anti-gravity" since the new style beads conform to your body as you kind of sink in.
I bought a Moonpod crescent pillow. It's big, and shaped like a crescent of course. I bought it to see if it'd help with pain in hips and spine in bed.
1) In bed, it make me feel like I was floating, and with far less pain.
2) I couldn't sit anymore on the couch or loveseat as it was too deep and I also needed arm support. When I lay the Moonpod crescent on the furniture with the closed end against the back of the furniture, it shortens the depth and allows my arms to be supported (by the crescent's arms).
The beads allow you to push into them shift a position, like to lower your arm or elbow (or head)--you've noted that other things you've tried prevents her from moving her arm.
Since you have a brainstorming carpenter on your team, maybe you two can peek at Moonpods (or Yogibos) online to see if one of their styles could be worked with for her chair(s). (They don't just sell crescent-shaped pods.)
Thanks! My wife is very aware she’s leaning. In her case, she must have weaker muscles on one side. She does PT. But the leaning will continue.