Lying posture: The side

Physical therapy

﻿Hello, my name's Sophie Brazier. I'm a children's physiotherapist. Thank you for joining me today. We are going to be looking at lying posture. So before we begin, there's a few things that we need to get, so you might need a parent or carer to help you get these. First, you will need some bubbles. And secondly, you will need some things to help you stay in a side lying position. So you might need some cushions or pillows, or perhaps some blankets that can be rolled up. So if you could get a parent or carer to help you get those now, that would be great. And then we can make a start. I would just like to give you a little message from our team. We as therapists have tried to think of the best way to continue to support children, young people and their families, so you may be watching this as a child by yourself, or you might be with a parent or carer. We will be exploring the topic areas that we regularly provide advice and support on across all ages and abilities, and each lesson we will aim to give you some ideas and activities that can be carried out either at home or in school. You may already have specific programmes that you're using or advice that has been given to you by your child's school or therapist, so please make sure that you're using any information I'm giving you alongside anything you already have. And if you do have any questions or would like help tailoring this to their needs, then please make sure you get in contact with your local therapy service. Okay, let's have a little look at why is changing position in lying important? So changing position in any posture you may be in is important, but in lying, there's different postures you can be in. You could be in side lying, so you can have alternate side lying on each side of your body, or you could have lying on your back, or also lying on your tummy. And the reason why it's important is because it will give you some comfort and some relief. If you stay in one position for a very long period of time, you're not going to be that comfortable. And it also helps keep your body parts and muscles in a good position. So we've talked a lot about alignment with your posture, and just as much as in other positions, in lying, being in a good alignment is just as important. And it's also really important to change position to really help your vital processes that happen in your body, such as breathing, circulation, and digestion. And if we're changing position, then all these systems will be working to the best of their ability. And the fourth point there, function and independence. If you're regularly changing position and you're comfortable, you'll be able to have good function. And ultimately, that will give you some independence. And the last point, social interaction and engagement. If all of the above things are working for you, if you're comfortable, if all your body processes are working, if you're pain-free, if you're able to function and your feeling independent, then this will give you some great skills to interact socially. And also you'll be able to engage in an activity or engage with others, and maybe your friends. I'm now going to talk to you a little bit about postural management. So you might be thinking, what does that word mean? Well, postural management is the way in which our bodies are positioned when we are awake and asleep over a whole 24 hour period. So it includes both the day and the night time. And really, it's a guide to help keep you in a good position and protect the shape of your body. So your alignment. And it does include the use of specialist equipment if you are unable to change and maintain different positions yourself, and it really is about regularly changing those positions and making sure that you're supported when you're in those positions. Let's take a closer look at lying positions. So the first one is alternate side lying. So this could be on your left-hand side or your right-hand side. The second is lying on your tummy, and the third is lying on your back. So they're just some ideas, and you might find some of them are comfortable for you or some of them you can't get into or you can't tolerate. The first is alternate side lying, and I'm just going to go into a little bit more detail with that one, because that's the position you will be in for the activity later. So alternate side lying can be a little bit of a challenging position if you're not supported because you're balancing on the side of your body. But if you've got positioning aids such as cushions, pillows or blankets, then it can be a really nice, comfortable position. And in terms of function and taking part in an activity, it can be a really nice position to be in because you can see everything clearly in that position, and it visually it can be a good position to be in as well. So some points to remember. Really important to think about changing your position regularly. So even if you can't do this independently and you need help from a parent or carer, it's really important that you're not staying in the same position for a long period of time. The second point now, use all equipment available. So this doesn't mean try and buy and grab every piece of equipment that you've got. It means if you have got things like blankets, pillows, cushions, then making sure that you're thinking, are you using everything that's available to you? Or, on the other hand, if you have got specific equipment for you, such as a standing frame or a side lyer, or any specific piece of equipment that has been given to you by a therapist, then it's really important that you are using it, which leads me onto the third point, use all the equipment correctly. So if your parent or carer has been shown how to use the piece of equipment and they need to be shown again, or you are unsure how to use it, then it's important that you contact the therapist that showed you that piece of equipment in the first place. And then you'll be able to use that piece of equipment regularly and in the right way. And the last point there, maybe think of postural management over a whole 24 hour period. So don't just think of it in the morning, in the afternoon. It's thinking about it over the whole day and during the night as well. So really thinking about your position at nighttime because the period of night can be quite a long time to be lying in one position. So if you do need some help changing position, it's about remembering when to change and what position could you go into. So now it's time to try a little activity in side lying. So you're going to watch a video where I will be demonstrating the activity of blowing some bubbles. So when you finish watching the video, if you pause it, then you can complete the activity and then restart the video after you've done it. So I'm just going to demonstrate a couple of examples of activities that you can try in supported side lying. So the first one is supported side lying, and then you could perhaps blow some bubbles with somebody blowing some bubbles for you. And I'd like you to just blow, just practise blowing them with your, you can just blow them with your breath. So you don't need to use any muscles, you can just practise blowing them away. So somebody blows you the bubbles and you can blow the bubbles away. And then the next one is just using your top arm, if you're able to, you could pop the bubbles And if you need a grown-up to help you, you might need some help with your top arm, just bringing that across. Pop, pop. So you're using your top arm to pop the bubbles. Great. I hope you enjoyed doing that activity. So here are a couple of ways to either extend the activity or to simplify the activity. So you could make the activity more challenging by assisting changing position. So you could roll to your alternate side. You could try the activity in different positions, so you could try blowing bubbles on your tummy and on your back. And in lesson five and six, we'll be looking at activities on your tummy and on your back. Or you could increase the length of time doing the activity. So just stay there for a little bit longer, if you're able to. And some ways to simplify the activity, you can get a parent or carer to really help you with the activity. So obviously you need somebody to blow the bubbles, but it might be that you need some more assistance with your arm for popping the bubbles. And lastly there, shorten the length of time doing the activity. So if you find lying on your side for a longer amount of time is too difficult, then start off with a really small amount of time, and maybe over a few days, you could build that up. So that brings us to the end of the lesson today. Thank you very much for joining me. In lesson five and six, we will be continuing looking at lying posture and we will be looking at lying on your back with an activity and also lying on your tummy. So join me for those. Take care. See you soon, bye!

Lying posture: The side

Lying posture: The side

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

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