Finding Your Best Sleep Position
“What is the best position to sleep in?” This is one of the most common questions we hear from our patients. The quick answer is, “That depends.” The long answer really does depend on your pain points, your habits, and your preferences. Dr. Armstrong does a great job helping you find comfort in your best sleep position in the video below. Have a watch.
Sleeping on Your Back
Sleeping on your back is great for people with neck pain, shoulder complaints, or hip pain with lying on your side. If you feel like your neck might need more support when you're lying on your back, you can always roll up a small hand towel so that it will fit in the curve of your neck. Simply place the towel at the bottom of your pillow.
Alternatively, you can take two rolled towels and place them under your pillow on the sides of your head. This stops you from flopping to one side or the other. You can add all three towels, on the sides and bottom of your pillow, setting them up to hold your head in place and support the arch of your neck.
If lying with your legs extended causes too much tension in your low back, you can add a pillow under the knees. You can even take a bigger towel, roll it, and put it under the curve of your low back. Now your low back can rest in that curved position and take some of the tension out of your low back.
Sleeping on Your Side
Sleeping on your side can be helpful if your low back can't get used to being flat on your back. Conditions such as sciatica or lumbar spinal stenosis can be managed by sleeping on your side.
Make sure that your pillow is a little bit higher for sleeping in this position. It should fill the space between your neck and your shoulder. If you suffer from upper back stiffness or pinching near the shoulder blade from a rib issue, sometimes hugging a pillow can be helpful.
Wrap your arms around the pillow to keep your hips level so that you're not twisting or rolling through your low back. You can also place a small pillow between your legs. This stops the legs from crossing or getting into that rotated or twisted position.
Sleeping on Your Stomach
The least preferred position is lying on your stomach. I know it's a hard habit to break, but sleeping in this position causes your head to be cranked to one side and causes excess extension in your low back. Both these postures can jam the joints of the spine and the neck.
Try removing your pillow or sleeping with a flat pillow. This will minimize how much rotation is happening in your neck. You can also take your pillow and place it underneath your stomach. So this will prevent some of that extension.
Sleep is really important to our overall health. It can impact our pain and inflammation levels. Sadly, we see a lot of sleep injuries in our practice, but with a few little tweaks using pillows and towels from around your house, you can find a comfortable, pain-free position that also keeps your spine in line.
We post regular content on Instagram and Facebook under Willowbrook Chiropractic weekly. If you have any questions about anything I've talked about here today, please feel free to reach out. We're always happy to help.
