Prokrustes was a robber in Greek mythology who put everyone who fell into his hands on a normal bed. If they were too long for the bed, they were shortened. If the prisoners were too short, they were stretched out. He made the prisoners fit the Procrustean bed.
In a figurative sense, today we call a rigid scheme that requires painful adjustments a “Procrustean bed”.
But we also call an uncomfortable position into which someone is forced a “Procrustean bed”.
