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Sleep Positioning! Best Sleeping Position
One of the most common complaints I hear from patients is that their sleep is disturbed by their pain symptoms, or that they’re waking up with increased pain in the morning. Sometimes pain symptoms make it difficult to fall asleep, and other times they wake us up at night when we try to roll over in bed. Pain during sleep often occurs because we position our bodies in ways that lead to increased joint compression or improper muscle positioning.
Sleep is vitally important to the body’s healing process, which makes it a top priority in many of my treatment programs. So I’m going to give you some tips that will help get your body into a more optimal alignment while sleeping, and hopefully reduce pain and discomfort in your body.
For Side Sleepers:
You’ll need 2 pills and a small rolled up face towel
First, lay on your side and place the small rolled towel at your waistline. That will help keep your spine straight while laying on your side.
Next, place a pillow between your knees. That will help keep your hip bones aligned within their socket.
Lastly, before placing the pillow under your head, slide your bottom arm forward as far as you can so that your weight is on the back of your shoulder blade rather than on the tip of your shoulder. Now, the pillow can be positioned under your head but also between your neck and shoulder for optimal support. By doing this, you protect your neck and shoulders from compressing on joints, tendons and nerves.
You can see a demo on my Instagram page here: Best Sleeping Position
For Back Sleepers:
You’ll need 2 pillows and 2 small rolled up towels (or very small pillows)
Lay on your back, place a pillow under your head, and the other under your knees. That helps keep your spine in a neutral position.
Now take a small rolled up towel to place under each of your elbows. By doing this, you’ll keep your shoulder joints in a more neutral position because it centres the head of the arm bone in the shoulder socket. This relieves any pressure that would otherwise be placed on the tendons running through the shoulder. It also stops any muscle pull that can be placed on the neck when the shoulders are in an altered position.
You can see a demo on my Instagram page here:
SLEEPING POSITIONS: BACK EDITION
