Today's thoughts are all on your backside alias rear, aka gluts, aka the buttocks. I have no idea how people stay in a wheelchair day in and day out without the rears hurting big time. OMG I thought I had a big and padded rear. Obviously not for a wheelchair. First the wheelchair bottom is a sling of vinyl. It is not straight across. It does not give. You will find bones you didn't remember you had there. And they will hurt. I have tried a pillow...first one was duck feathers (soft as a pillow for your head but did nothing for the rear). Next one I tried was a thermopedic aka memory foam. Yeah...it remembered how big my butt was but did nothing for cushioning. Someone suggested getting a gel pad from the pharmacy so off I sent my son to get me one. Cushier but no stability although it can be heated for warmth (like I need that with my hot flashes) or frozen. Now the freezing I was interested in so I tried it. No relief but I will say I had a cold ass. I try to transfer to a regular chair when possible but at the main office I end up doing the splits trying to sit with one leg under the desk and the other parallel to the desk, then I reach around my body to get to the keyboard. I can only tolerate that twisting for an hour at a time. The other 2 offices I can stay in my wheelchair and fit both elevated legs under the desk but then my rear is stuck in the chair and once again I find bones I didn't think I had.
I have tried everything: moving, not moving, getting out of my wheelchair and sitting on “normal people” furniture such as sofas, armchairs, passenger seats in cars and dining chairs. It isn’t helping, all the transferring and getting used to any new seating just made it worse. My next thought was maybe I just needed a massage so I innocently asked my husband to massage my rear. The look on his face was priceless.
So I did what any frustrated person would do: I googled wheelchairs and hurting rears. I found the answer: I have what is called FDD aka "Franklin Delano Derriere." Supposedly FDR had very little muscle the bones in his lower pelvis and in his days, he sat in a wooden wheelchair with no cushion at all. Supposedly this article states that I am developing pain in my butt muscles because they are getting smaller and my ishial tuberosities are pressing harder on the thinning tissue underneath. This rationale would mean then that the longer I am in the wheelchair, the smaller my butt will be. Ok sounds good. So the final diagnosis: I am just a pain in the ass...something I am sure my husband will attest to.
I challenge you all to sit in the same place without moving for hours....you will become a PITA too.
