Lower Back Pain Relief - How Sleeping Can Contribute

Sleeping is a vital function of our everyday lives. Most of us sleep between 3 and 10 hours a day. If you are in the wrong position, you could be causing trauma or injury to your lower back. The preferred position for sleeping is on your back. The muscles and joints tend to assume their neutral position while lying on your back. If you have acute lower back pains, you could use a pillow under the back of your thighs to create a neutral pelvis. Most of the time you will hear people say to put a pillow under your knees, but that tends to increase the arch or lordotic curve in your spine. Placing the pillow under the back of your thighs tends to create a more relaxed position for the legs and less stress on the lower back. Sleeping on your side is recommended, but is not as safe as being on your back. The reason it is not as good as your back is because if your top leg moves into a fetal position, it will create a stretch on your gluteus medius which will eventually cause pain in your lower back. The gluteus medius is an important muscle used in walking, getting up from a chair, climbing stairs and rotational movements. If that muscle is overly stretched out, it will not perform well and other muscles will have to be recruited to help which will cause lower back and/or leg pain. If you are going to sleep on your side, it is essential that you either place a pillow between your knees and ankles or place a body pillow directly in front of you to eliminate that fetal position with the top leg. Stomach sleeping is very hard on your neck and shoulders. It causes you to turn your head towards one side which causes your neck muscles on one side to shorten and the opposite side to lengthen. It also causes your shoulders to be rounded which changes your posture and causes more stress on your cervical spine and mid back area. Stomach sleeping is the least recommended. Sleeping in the correct position can help the body maintain itself and work on recovery from an injury. Interrupted sleep disturbs the body’s natural way to heal itself. If you have back pain, consider changing the way you sleep or at least alter it in a way that promotes good posture.