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Types of patient positioning
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
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A distinction is made between active, passive and forced positions of the patient.
The patient's active position can be any, and the disease does not significantly affect it.
The passive position occurs in an unconscious state or in extreme weakness and exhaustion.
The patient takes a forced position to relieve his suffering, for example, to reduce pain, shortness of breath. Usually the patient takes a forced position at the moment of intensification of the disease manifestations (for example, an attack of suffocation), but sometimes the severity of the condition forces him to remain in this position for a long time. For example, a position in bed with a raised headboard (orthopnea) leads to a decrease in blood flow to the right side of the heart and, as a result, a decrease in blood stagnation in the lungs, which, with shortness of breath, alleviates the condition of patients with left ventricular heart failure, while in the past, when there were no active diuretics, patients with severe circulatory disorders spent many weeks of their lives in special comfortable, easily movable chairs with a high headboard (the so-called Voltaire chairs), which were a constant attribute of the furnishings of former therapeutic clinics.
When fluid accumulates in the pericardial cavity ( exudative pericarditis ), the patient sits leaning forward and resting on a pillow or the back of a chair.
With sharp pains of various localizations, patients often cannot find a place for themselves, strive to frequently change position - toss and turn in bed, as is observed, for example, with renal colic.
In general, assessment of body position has some significance in assessing the severity of the patient's condition.