Sleeping with a broken ankle · My Broken Ankle Journey

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Usually I sleep with my feet under the covers, flipping from side to side, and I usually end up on my back anyway.

But now I’ve been told I need to keep my foot elevated, which means I’m pretty much always on my back all night.

What made that work was a leg elevation pillow.

The leg elevation pillow

Foam leg elevation wedge pillow with a raised channel for the legs

Slept with it for three monthsLeg elevation pillowWide enough for both legs, with raised edges so your foot can't slide off in the night, and a support incline under your thighs. It was firm and did the job.Find it on Amazon

The exact one I bought is no longer sold, but there are dozens nearly identical to it. If I had to buy one today, it’d be close to the one above.

So this is how I slept. The lady in the product photo makes this look really comfy, and for the most part it was.

A woman lying on her back with her legs raised on a wedge-shaped leg elevation pillow

I knew I’d want something both legs could fit on, because normally that’s how I ended up. This one is wide, so there’s plenty of room. It’s raised on both sides, which took away the fear that I’d shift in the night and knock my foot off without realizing it until it was too late. That never happened, but the raised edges are why I stopped worrying about it. There’s also a slight incline that goes under your thighs — something else I knew I’d want.

You’ll probably be sleeping on top of the sheets instead of under them, so get yourself a separate blanket ready. It’d be a while before I could be under tucked sheets.

It stunk to be in the splint, and later the boot, for as long as I was, and it would be about three or four months before I’d finally get to sleep barefoot again. But with the help of this pillow, I made the best of sleeping on my back with my leg up.