What is the best pillow for back pain?

Where you place a pillow if client has hip and back pain?

• Answer:

  For hip and back pain, you want to ease pressure on the pelvic area and the lower spine. To do that, the person must be in a fetal position (laying on the back or stomach puts pressure on the lower back), with a large cushion (preferred) or pillow between the thighs/knees. It needs to be thick enough that the legs are parallel to each other when lying in a fetal position - this is the optimum position for getting the pressure off of the hip and spine. If the person cannot lie in a fetal position, they can lie on the back, but the legs must be elevated to the point where pressure again is off the lower lumbar area. Usually this means putting a large cushion underneath the back of the legs/thighs. The best way to describe it is the person being in a "sitting position" but laying down on their back with a cushion keeping their legs up. An alternate way of doing that is to lie on a hard, flat floor with the back of the legs against the front of a couch, and the lower legs lying on the couch itself. The person then rotates the hips forward enough to where the flat of the lower back is against the hard surface. This also removes all pressure off the spine, and by separating the legs enough it will ease pressure on the hips as well. Before I had most of my lower spine fused (only L1 and L2 are left) I used to use these methods regularly - I still sleep in a fetal position with a cushion between my legs as it is extremely comfortable. The best thing to have is a full body cushion - you can get them at department or bed stores. You can also use a couch cushion, anything that is large and thick - the idea is to get the legs parallel to each other to remove all stress from the hips and pelvic area.