Sleeping is one of the most favorite things of people to do but honestly, it is not the favorite thing of a lot of people because they are uncomfortable when they sleep. People often question their pillow, their bed, sleeping position. Among all these questions the main concern is your sleeping position.
There are a few basic sleeping positions that are mandatory for everyone to opt to have a comfortable and relaxing sleep and reduced lower back pain. These recommended positions will prevent back pain in the future too.
It is also likely to reduce the likelihood that you might develop scoliosis so the twist in your spine since you are going to be spending about a third of your life sleeping. If you are sleeping in the wrong position for a third of your life you can develop some adaptive change.
Better sleep is the ultimate desire of everyone as it regulates your hormonal regulations, mental well-being and also increases the healing process.
You are going to see a few very comforting sleeping positions for your back that will help you in a long run and positively impact your health in general.
Causes of morning back pain
Back pain is common among many people. Most of the time, it is the first thing one feels after getting up from the bed. Stiffness among the joints of the spinal cord is one of the main causes.
Many other causes of morning back pain are following:
- Bad sleeping posture: sleeping position can be the bad guy. The bad posture puts pressure on the spine and distorts its normal curve. Sleeping on your stomach can aggravate the situation and you will feel back pain more frequently. Stomach sleeping position can be detrimental to your overall health too.
- Old mattress: sometimes bad mattress plays a very triggering role in activating back pain. Replacing your old mattress with a new one can be a useful technique in this regard.
- Disc degeneration: it is a disease in which the disc between the vertebrae of the spinal cord starts deteriorating. This condition causes severe pain in the back, and it is higher in the morning after sleeping.
- Pregnancy: pregnancy also puts stress on the backbone and after a long period of rest in the night, the pain can be worse in the morning.
These are a few causes that amplify the back pain in the morning and the best sleeping positions can help you in this matter.
Best sleeping position for your back
Every person sleeps differently so everyone will need a different sleeping position to hamper back pain. Here you will see some best sleeping positions to reduce your back pain
Back sleeping: this is probably the best go-to way to sleep on your back. However, when you lay down depending on how soft your bed is, the weight of your legs may be pressing downwards, and this can cause your hips to go into anterior hip tilt. Therefore, making your lower back go to lumbar extension, if you already suffer from lower back pain this will cause you to have lower back pain. If you think this is the cause of your lower back pain or you are suffering from lower back pain, try placing a pillow under your legs. This will elevate your legs higher and create posterior hip tilt and make your lower back go into a more neutral position or flatten it out a little bit providing you a bit of relief.
If you still don’t feel like you are getting any relief, you can always add an extra pillow to raise up your legs even more so that way it flattens up your back a little bit more. This will reduce the tension from the legs that are created from the gravity pulling down your spine, your muscles, and even your nerves.
Side sleeping: it is one of the most natural positions for sleeping. Some professionals even call it the fetal position, since you look like a position that a baby would be in an expecting mother. However, as we get older our limbs get a lot longer and our body can twist and turn in the middle of the night. Even if we start off in a perfect sleeping position. Sometimes the legs may move forward or even back this will create torsion and rotation in the lumbar spine.
If you develop a habit of sleeping on a preferred side, you will create either more mobility on one side or stiffness on the other side of the lower back. The lower back can then be locked up or cramped up due to the long duration that some of these areas are being compressed. To combat the twisting is to place a pillow under your leg that moves too far in front of you causing your body to twist.
Most chiropractors recommend you place a soft pillow between your legs when you sleep as this pillow will stop your legs from twisting your legs.
To support the lower back from stooping just add a soft pillow between your rib cage and your hip bone.
Some patients also use a dedicated memory pillow for side sleeping to help them stay in a position to support their legs.
CONCLUSION
A natural symmetrical sleeping position can help you to have a comfortable back with no stress and strain. If you are already suffering from back pain so being in an asymmetrical position can cause you to have scoliosis or even lower back pain just replace your mattress that has lost its firmness or that is a too soft cause that will cause more harm to your spinal cord than anything could ever do.
To avoid your spine to twist the middle of the night, place a soft pillow between your legs and also down the rib cage.
In case of prolonged and frequent back pain, consult your health care professional and a chiropractor immediately.
REFERENCES
Identifying relationships between sleep posture and non-specific spinal symptoms in adults: A scoping review (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6609073/)
How to Sleep With Lower Back Pain (https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-health/how-to-sleep-with-lower-back-pain#:~:text=The%20best%20sleeping%20position%20for,make%20this%20position%20more%20comfortable.)