How To Get Out of Bed without Sitting

Physical Therapist: Hi, Mr. Moore. My name's Emily. I'm one of the physical therapists here, and this is Lauren. She's one of your occupational therapists.

Occupational Therapist: Good morning.

Physical Therapist: How are you feeling today?

Mr. Moore: I’m okay.

Physical Therapist: So, because of your surgery, you're not allowed to sit down. We're here to show you how to get in and out of bed safely without putting any pressure on your surgical site. Does that sound okay?

Mr. Moore: Sure.

Physical Therapist: Great. Before we get started, we're going to take a look at your blood pressure just to make sure that that's okay. And why don’t you go ahead, I just want you to start doing some ankle pumps. So just pointing and flexing your feet. Good. Just to help with circulation. You're going to do 15 repetitions total.

Occupational Therapist: So, at any point during this transfer, if you start to feel pain or any dizziness, we want you to let us know as soon as possible. With this surgery, it's very common for people to feel a little bit dizzy because you've been in bed for so long.

Physical Therapist: Your blood pressure looks great: 118/76.

Physical Therapist: Okay, so first thing I'd like you to do is turn onto your right side. You're going to go ahead and bend this knee toward me, and with this hand, reach over to the bed rail. You're actually going to turn almost onto your stomach.

Physical Therapist: Now, next, Lauren's going to help you bring your legs off of the bed. I'll help you bring your upper body and shoulders off of the bed. And once you're in standing, we'll give you a walker for some added support, okay?

Physical Therapist: So, you're just going to help us by pushing into the back of the bed. And you can use this walker for a little bit of support.

Physical Therapist: How are you feeling? Any dizziness here?

Mr. Moore: No, I’m okay.

Occupational Therapist: Try to keep your head up and take some nice, deep breaths.

Occupational Therapist: Good. Okay, so now what we're going to do is show you how to get back into bed. What I first want you to do is take a few side steps towards Emily, towards the head of the bed. All the way up.

Physical Therapist: So now you can take your hands off the walker. Go ahead and bring this hand back onto the bed rail, please. And you're just going to come onto your right side. Bring this hand here.

Physical Therapist: And again, Lauren's going to help bring your feet up onto the bed. I'm just going to turn you onto your back.

Physical Therapist: Wonderful. How do you feel?

Mr. Moore: I feel good.

Physical Therapist: You did a great job with that.

Mr. Moore: Thank you.

Physical Therapist: Lauren's going to take your blood pressure one more time to make sure there weren’t any changes in your blood pressure.