The nurse teaches the caregiver to maintain the client's body alignment when sitting in a chair. Which teaching does the nurse include?

Question

1. Instruct client to flex and extend feet.
2. Direct the client to tuck head to chest.
3. Reposition the client every 1 to 2 hours.
4. Provide a footstool to prevent back pain.

Answer 1

4
4. The nurse instructs the caregiver to provide the client with a footstool to prevent client back pain because if the client has to arch the back or lean forward to place the feet on the floor, unnecessary stress strains back muscles, potentially leading to back pain. In addition, the nurse instructs the caregiver to place a small pillow behind the client's lower back for support.
1. Sitting in a chair flexes the client's hips and knees, impeding venous blood return to the heart and increasing the risk of venous stasis in the legs and development of deep venous thrombosis; thus the nurse instructs the caregiver to encourage ankle exercises for the client to facilitate venous blood return. Although hip and knee flex-ion is related, instruction about ankle exercises is unrelated to body alignment.
2. Tucking the head to the chest applies unnecessary stress to the cervical spine, po-tentially leading to upper back pain. The head and neck maintain body alignment when the head aligns with the anterior spine in a straight line, allowing the spine to assume its normal curves.
3. Repositioning a client in a chair is recommended every 20 to 30 minutes to main-tain blood flow to the tissues and adequate oxygenation. This is important but does not apply to maintaining body alignment.