I love reading, it is especially important to me as it helps ease the loneliness and boredom of having a chronic condition and too much screen time gives me headaches. Because I have hyper-mobile joints and joint pain, it has been causing me significant issues with my lower back, neck and shoulders. My doctor told me to improve my posture... I can't really figure out what position to read in without hurting myself.
Should I invest in some furniture? I was looking at reclining chairs and went to a huge furniture store only to find out I am too tall for practically everything in my price range! (Thanks, dad!) It was a little funny since I literally spent 2 hours sitting up and down and felt really tired afterwards. Should I keep looking? Any special types of pillows I should look for?
Does anyone have any suggestions? It would be so nice to be comfortable for a couple of hours, you can all relate to that, I'm sure.
Thank you all. I hope you're having a nice day.
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StonkySnock
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Hi 👋. Have you tried a kindle? I mean the actual kindle not a kindle app. I fine it far easier to read using this because I can get in to a comfortable position and read “to my heart’s content”. Plus I find it quite easy and light to hold so less pressure on my hands. The kindle is specifically designed for readers and it doesn’t bother my vision as using an iPad or laptop can.I find V shaped pillows can help posture as can specific back pillows (see Amazon) that I have on my sofa. At times the only thing I can do (due to pain) is lie on my bed. Again the kindle means I can do this with ease.
Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes, I mostly read on my e-reader. They're so light compared to books! I don't know what I'd do without mine. It's helping a lot already, I recently bought a waterproof one that can supposedly survive falling into the bathtub, though I am still too scared to try it.
I just can't find a comfortable position to sit! Annoying. I wish I could lie on my back and have it just hover above my face...
As you have hypermobile joints have you tapped into the EDS and hypermobility communities? You might get some more ideas from there.
I have hEDS and struggle with reading which is a bit of a problem as I am doing a PhD! Much of the reading I do can't be done on a kindle or other device and many of the books are very heavy, so I have a variety of book stands and other helpers.
To keep the pages open I have these little plastic men. I have one for each book I am reading including the ones I read in bed.
I have two main book stands, one large one (see link below) that is fully adjustable. It isn't easy to adjust with my arthritis hands, but it is the only way I can read a lot of books. The other one is a little desk one that was either made by my long dead father-in-law or perhaps his father. It is just a little L-shaped shelf when opened, and sits nicely on my desk.
I also use bean bag book stands, especially in bed. they are excellent for both books and devices. I made them myself and have two of them, one for small books and one for larger ones, and often use both at once. There are patterns online, but I just got a square of material, folded it in half, sewed up one end, then put the centre seam down the middle and sewed up the other end, leaving a gap to put the beads in.
The second big thing is 'posture'. I made the mistake of 'improving my posture' by doing what NHS physios told me to do; sit up straight, shoulders back and so on. It put far more pressure on my lower back because I had a mechanical problem there that they didn't take into consideration. My private physio had to undo all that. Instead she just got me to be aware of where my joints were and what my posture was. I now sit and stand how I want, never keeping the same position for long.
But I also looked into the evidence to 'correct posture' and 'core strength' and it turns out that a lot of what people say isn't based on good science.
Instead people should be moving more. I never sit in the same place for my than 20 minutes if I can help it now. I use a dining room chair at my desk, and at the table where we eat. I have large pillows on the sofa, but change my position as often as possible when watching TV which is the only thing I do on the sofa.
I started looking at old paintings to see how people sat and read before the sofa was invented, and found that many people sat on ordinary chairs or stools. That made me feel much better because I find dining chairs much easier to sit on, and I never ever lean my back against the back of them. I thought I was weird, but looking at paintings I realised I wasn't, I was old fashioned! This is one of my favourites:
I also buy the Women Reading calendars. It gave me extra ideas, but also showed me that there is no right way to do it, maybe other than saying sofas are bad places to sit!
I got my son to make me a stool that is the same hight as my favourite chairs so I can move it around to which ever table, in doors or out, that I want to use.
So, maybe none of what I have done will suit you, but hopefully it will give you some ideas of how to think outside the box and figure out what works for you.
I love the idea of the calendar. I've also noticed that people in paintings never sit straight and I often wondered how is it that suddenly we discovered the secret to good posture- and yet so many people have back problems. People also used to sleep in arguably not particularly good beds, or on the ground (and millions, if not billions still do), and yet we're the broken ones. So, that does make me feel a bit better, thank you. I'll look for more paintings on women sitting! Are you doing your PhD in art?
I also find firm surfaces better, as I feel like my joints have nowhere to go that way. I hadn't thought of a book holder! I actually had one as a child but it didn't have a holder to keep the pages in place so I never thought about it again. I do sometimes use a small tablet holder for the e-reader, which is the best solution so far. I'll tinker with that a bit.
I'm not so good at changing positions. I have chronic fatigue so sometimes I just can't, though I agree it helps when I can. When I'm in bed I can often feel the pain getting worse from pressure on certain joints, so I'm looking at reading pillows now. It however doesn't help that I'm too tall for most of them. Apparently people over 1.65 shouldn't read.
Thank you for the ideas! It really helps to hear another person's perspective, even if it seems obvious afterwards.
My PhD is in computing, but I am on the human computer interaction side of things, not the geeky algorithm side.
A lot of people studying talk about the pomodoro technique which is using a kitchen time set for 20 minutes do to things. There is more to it than that, but I have a timer on my computer and if I am struggling to read due to pain, I set it for 20 minutes, (i find 25 too long) knowing that I can take a break when the 20 minutes are finished.
And I understand how chronic fatigue makes it all a bit more difficult. My son (age 25) has chronic fatigue and it can be hard to get him to move around. We have chickens so he has to get up sometimes to see to them, and his physio gave him the job of emptying and filling the dishwasher, just to make sure he does move around every day. If he didn't have those two things, I don't think he would ever move around!
The pomodoro technique sounds really interesting. I might try an app for that. Thank you for the suggestion. I do have tasks I do throughout the day, like housework, cooking, going shopping. At the end of the day, though, you couldn't move me with a forklift!
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