Lifting/lowering the foot of a bed.

[Chris Bacon]

A relative suffers from venous leg ulcers. It would be useful if they could raise the level of the foot of their bed, and lower it, as desired, by 6" or so, whilst in it. It's possible to buy an adjustable bed, for £lots, but can anyone think of a way to DIY a solution? I've been toying with the idea of a pump and an air-bed or similar under the foot of the mattress, but that might not be too easy. The lot could be jacked up at the foot of the bed, but the resulting inclined plane might not be easy to sleep on! As usual, any useful thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

[Rick]

You have the solution in your mail. Put a sheet of ply under the lower half of the mattress, and find a way to jack that up at the end, so the ply hindges in the middle of the bed. Of cource you can hindge the py at 1/3 or 1/4 of the way if its the better place.

One of them 12v car lifting inflating bags may do the trick, or an electric winch on the ceiling (cheep on eBay)

Rick

[David Hearn]

Not adjustable - but when we had to do something similar, we just put a brick under both feet at the end of the bed. Raised it enough to help, but not too much as to be weird.

Could be useful as a quick check to see how they get on with sleeping with raised feet before doing something more elaborate.

D

[meow2222]

Good idea. Add more chip/ply sheet on the rest of the bed so you dont get a step change in height. This would cause premature mattress failure.

NT

[Dave Fawthrop]

| A relative suffers from venous leg ulcers. It would be | useful if they could raise the level of the foot of their | bed, and lower it, as desired, by 6" or so, whilst in it. | It's possible to buy an adjustable bed, for =A3lots, but can | anyone think of a way to DIY a solution? I've been toying | with the idea of a pump and an air-bed or similar under | the foot of the mattress, but that might not be too easy.

If the bed has solid/strong sides, an easier way would be to put the foot end of the bed on a length of wood. Start with say 2 inch thick wood and work up to six inches when he/she has got used to that. =20

| The lot could be jacked up at the foot of the bed, but the | resulting inclined plane might not be easy to sleep on!

In the caravan we can detect a foot (up) to head slope of about an inch, as uncomfortable, so we have installed a spirit level and now pitch it with our heads up by an inch or two.

--=20 Dave Fawthrop

17,000 free e-books at Project Gutenberg! Yorkshire Dialect go to

[nightjar]

You can buy wedge shaped inflatable cushions to put under the foot end of a mattress and to give a variable amount of lift. However, I'm not sure how you would go about adjusting them while in the bed yourself.

Colin Bignell

[Dave Fawthrop]

| Chris Bacon wrote: | > A relative suffers from venous leg ulcers. It would be | > useful if they could raise the level of the foot of their | > bed, and lower it, as desired, by 6" or so, whilst in it. | > It's possible to buy an adjustable bed, for =A3lots, but can | > anyone think of a way to DIY a solution? I've been toying | > with the idea of a pump and an air-bed or similar under | > the foot of the mattress, but that might not be too easy. | > The lot could be jacked up at the foot of the bed, but the | > resulting inclined plane might not be easy to sleep on! | > As usual, any useful thoughts will be greatly appreciated. |=20 | Not adjustable - but when we had to do something similar, we just put a= =20 | brick under both feet at the end of the bed. Raised it enough to help,= =20 | but not too much as to be weird. |=20 | Could be useful as a quick check to see how they get on with sleeping=20 | with raised feet before doing something more elaborate.

You get used to most things after a while. Get your relation to test the bricks for a *week* before removing them.

--=20 Dave Fawthrop

17,000 free e-books at Project Gutenberg! Yorkshire Dialect go to

[Capitol]

Buy a couple of satellite dish actuators from CPC. These will easily lift the bottom of the bed. Do not buy the remote control actuated versions, as these lose their setting very easily IME.

Regards Capitol

[Bob Martin]

Not recommended if relative has digestive problems. I've had the *head* of my bed raised by 4 inches for last 40 years (hiatus hernia).

[owdman]

Ask your social services. There are all sorts of gadgets for the old/disabled/ill etc some of which they may supply free of charge. My mother has an electric air cushion and also a mattress both of which slowly change profile to alter her weight distribution to help with bed sores. These are free thanks to our wonderful NHS. Sounds like you need something similar.

cheers

Jacob