Any advice or suggestions - DM house and chair bound, head hanging down and now very sore, any advice to help solve this?

[Longingforthesummer]

DM is housebound and cant move now with loss of mobility, carers in and do help to move her around. As she sleeps most of the day in her chair, her head hangs down and now her neck is really sore. Tried with a recliner chair but didnt get on with it and refused to have it. Any aid or anything I could try to help keep her head in the centre etc.

Did rub some volteral on her neck area yesterday but that is short term fix

Oh, that sounds horrible for her. Would she be better off for part of the day in bed with a wedge pillow behind her?

Oh that's tough. Do you think home is the best place for her now, OP?

If she is sleeping most of the day, would a hospital bed be better for her? It could sit her up when she wants to sit up, and she could lie down when she wants to sleep.

Can you arrange a referral to an occupational therapist for an assessment?

Other option would be for one of those C shaped travel neck pillows - but she would need to agree to wear it…

So to upate:
She has a hospital bed in the lounge now but carers come at 7am and get her up, wash, change etc. then put her in her chair with breakfast etc,
Then the next call is lunch call at 11.45am for 45mins, then again 4pm so she cant/wont go into bed at 12ish etc

She has a V shaped cushion behind her

Im wondering whether to try one of those travel neck support things on her

With a travel cushion, it is designed to go under the chin. This should really help support her head if lolling forwards or to the sides. Most people put them behind the head, so thought I'd mention it.

Does she have a wing-backed chair? This also helps support if the head hangs to the side.

Strangly a few weeks ago she was leaning to the side but doesnt now, just head down

My late OH was just like this. He had Parkinsons Disease. I am sorry to say that we never did find a solution. Everything we tried in his recliner chair simply did not work. He only had his head back when in his hospital bed. He too got a sore neck, and I used to try and gently lean it back - but he was too stiff.

It was so frustrating and I feel your pain.

I'm sorry I don't have a solution as we used to keep mum in the bed because it was safer for her. Even tilted back her head would go to the side and down a bit which would affect her neck etc so we would alternate her position in the bed (on either side with or without pillows, flat on back with no pillow for a small bit but not after swallowing issues) these did help a little bit but we had someone there all the time to do this. We felt mean for moving her about like this but she was able to nod off like it.

Even some kind of soft material might help.

How about muslin cloths so skin doesn't touch skin? Easily washed at a high temperature, changed daily and very soft?

Could you ask a physio to undertake an assessment? She may need to do some exercises.

ask GP to do a referral to community OT.

I am an OT and second the advice to refer community OTs for a seating assessment. This will be via adult social care.

There are lots of chairs on the market that support positioning and the OT will look at the right one for your mum. This may involve something called tilt in space which is different to standard recline functions. Lots of head support options are available too.

If your mum is struggling with other things too they will all discuss those with you and her so it is definitely worth doing!