I read in bed a lot, almost always lying on my left side with my head resting on my left hand, propped up on my elbow. A few months ago, I had been in bed basically the whole weekend and a day because I was home sick, so I spent a LOT of the time reading. My elbow skin had gotten irritated from the friction against the pillowcase I was using (cheap, kinda rough). I started putting lotion on it, and I switched back to a satin pillow case, but it just wasn’t getting better, and in fact it seemed to be getting worse! The skin was red, flakey, and kind of hard compared to the rest of the skin on my elbow. Warm, too. If the pad were a little thicker, I would have rated 5 stars, but it’s a little thin, and my elbows are bony. After several weeks of applying Aquaphor (my holy grail moisturizer) multiple times a day and getting no improvement to the hard patch of skin, and the soreness in my elbow continuing to get worse, I thought I might have more going on than just skin irritated by a pillowcase. Googled around for a bit and I was about 99% sure what I had was actually a level one pressure sore. The pillowcase irritating my skin didn’t help, but the main issue was the amount of continuous time I had been spending with my upper body weight all being on my left elbow. I also just turned 49, and I’ve really been noticing changes in my skin from age like loss of elasticity and my skin just starting to become thinner and more fragile all over, and I’ve got bony joints! I bought some pressure wound cream (WelmedIx fragile skin formula bought here based on reviews if anyone is dealing with something similar), but I also wanted something I could use as a preventative, because back injuries and 40+ years of habit have made reading in any other position uncomfortable, so I knew without changing that up, I probably had an excellent chance of giving myself one again. Saw these elbow pads, and honestly I think I bought this brand because it was the cheapest one I saw. I didn’t really care what it looked like as long as it worked, because I was only going to use it on my left elbow in bed while reading, but these are actually really cute! I might even wear these as a clothing accessory with some outfits. Looks like they would wash easily, too. Used them for the first time last night, and I could tell they were helping prevent those painful pressure points where my elbow is especially knobby. They were also really comfortable, so I actually fell asleep wearing them and they didn’t wake me up at all (and I’m like the damn Princess and the Pea when it comes to trying to sleep with something on like an eye mask - just CAN NOT do it.) I had also put my wound cream on last night before the pad, and the padding part is made of cotton, so it was the equivalent of moisturizing your hands and feet at night and then covering with cotton socks/gloves, and the next morning, my elbow had improved so much over the night from the cream/elbow pad combo. No pressure sore? Just use regular lotion lol. Are these the best? Doubtful, but they are perfectly adequate for my needs, and I’m very pleased! The padding isn’t that thick, but I’m resting on a pillow, anyway, so I only needed a little extra protection. I don’t remember if these came in sizes, but if you are on the larger side, these will probably be too tight. I included a pic of the brace on my arm, and idk if you can tell, but I’m like 5’5” and 125lbs, so my arms are fairly small, and these are ALMOST tight on me, especially on the upper arm band. But being that snug did keep it from moving in my sleep, and it wasn’t tight enough to bother me or leave marks in the morning (which as I mentioned before is kinda a small miracle).
