Easy Tips to Improve Sleeping With Low Back Pain at Home
Tips to Make Sleeping With Low Back Pain Easier
Today we’re going to talk about sleeping with low back pain. We will cover common sleep positions and how they affect back pain.
It is extremely important to know what’s the proper position when you go to sleep especially if you’re already having a low back pain. Low back pain is a very common condition we see in physiotherapy and usually we recommend the proper sleep position based on your diagnosis.
In this blog, we will give you some simple tips to follow when you’re currently sleeping with low back pain or would like to prevent having a low back pain.
First and foremost you have to make sure that you have to be aware of your posture. No matter how expensive your bed is, if your posture is slouching or lousy, then you’re still going to have a low back pain.
Next you have to check for your mattress. If it’s a sagging mattress maybe you could reposition the mattress. If this does not solve it, you may need to change for a new mattress because your current one may be too old to support your body weight properly.
Likewise, we recommend lumbar roll around your low back. This would prevent increase of pressure and increase pain if you already have a low back pain.
Sleeping Lying on Your Back
First sleeping position we are going to talk about is lying on your back.
Make sure you have only one pillow in your neck when you are lying on your back. As well, it is recommended that you have a pillow underneath your knees to decrease the pressure being placed on the lower back.
These two simple tips are very helpful for a back that’s already in pain. This is a way you’re preventing too much tightening of your anterior hip muscles, as well as, they help decrease the stress that’s being placed on the low back.
If you have spinal stenosis or facet irritation, this is the most beneficial sleeping position for you because that position would help decrease the pressure being placed on the nerve. However, if you have a disc problem, sleeping lying on your back is not the recommended position.
Sleeping On Your Side
Sleeping on your side is the most common sleeping position. About 41% of adults report this is their preferred position.
As a general rule, when you lie on your side, make sure that you have enough pillow support on your neck, balancing the middle of your head around your ears and reaching the top of your shoulder. It is often recommended that you also place a pillow in between your legs.
Lastly, if you’re a side sleeper, you have to move your shoulder a little bit more forward so that you don’t put all the pressure on it and cause an injury.
Pro tip: as you know, we have also a curb on our side on the side of our back. We recommended putting a little bit of lumbar support or a small pillow on the side. This way we can prevent any rotation going on in the lumbar spine while you sleep.
Sleeping Facing Down
Sleeping on your stomach is a good decision if you have a disc problem because that’s going to help with pain since you’re promoting extension of your lumbar spine.
However, you’re going to have a neck pain with that position. We don’t really recommend sleeping facing down.
Sleeping On A Recliner
This is not a sleeping position, but it is a very common thing people do.
Sleeping on a recliner chair is not something that we recommend. However, in some cases, some people cannot sleep at all. Usually, this is because they experience severe pain when they lie down on their back, and they don’t have any choice but to sleep on their recliner or in a sitting position.
So, if you do sleep need to sleep on a recliner, make sure you have a pillow at the back of your spine at the low back area. This will prevent that you go into a slouch position or posteriorly tilt your back, and effectively preventing further damage or further increase of your back pain.
If you have low back pain and you want us to help you improve your sleep position and improve your core muscles please give us a call or visit us in our Website.
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