Sleep Away Your Neck Pain

Research shows that your sleeping position, can play a critical role when it comes to musculoskeletal pain, which includes shoulder and neck pain. So this article will talk about the sleeping posture, how to sleep and how not to sleep.

How should I sleep to avoid neck pain?

Improper sleeping posture causes chronic back and neck pain. I will show you the sleeping postures with their problem in your sleep.

Side lying posture: Side lying posture is the best position for your spine. As you lie on your side, make sure your neck and hip is center.

Side lying posture is a best choice for your body

Back sleeping: Sleeping on your back with pillows under your knees, because pillows under your knees restore the natural arch of your back and reduces the pressure on your lower back.

Wake up right way: When you wake up from bed, turn to your side first, slide your knees and legs down, and then get up from bed. Never crunch yourself out of the bed. Always try to roll yourself out of the bed. 

Top 10 Best Rated Pillows For Neck Pain

3 things you shouldn't do to avoid sleeping neck pain

Don't sleep on your abdomen: This position is not good your your body because when you sleep on your abdomen, there is increased stress on your spinal column. 

Don't sleep on your arm: You should not sleep in your hand because this postion will cause compression of vital structures like nerves and blood vesels in your arm.

Avoid sleep on your stomach

Dont crunch yourself out of bed

Like so many other things related to neck pain, just one ounce of prevention could be worth at least one pound of cure. Of course it is also true that some things that cause neck pain, like wear and tear that is related age, are not issues that you can control. However, there are also many different things that you can do to help minimize your risk for neck pain. A good starting point is looking at the effects that this can have on your neck pain as well as the way you sleep every night.

Finding The Best Sleeping Position For Your Neck

The sleeping posture play important role to make your sleep heathly and comfortable. 

There are two sleeping positions that are easiest on your neck. They are sleeping on your side or on your back. When sleeping on your back, you want to have a rounded pillow to sleep on that will support your neck’s natural curve, and then a flatter pillow that provides your head with cushioning. You can achieve this by placing a small neck roll inside the pillow case of your softer, flatter pillow, or you can use a special pillow that comes with built-in neck support along with an indentation for resting your head in. The following are some other tips that back- and side-sleepers can use:

1. Try sleeping on a feather pillow. They conform very easily to the shape of your neck. However, over time a feather pillow will have a tendency to collapse. About once a year you will need to replace it.

If you prefer to sleep on a feather pillow… The Down Alternative side sleeper pillow from Five Star is a great choice (Read reivew)          

2. Another option that you can try is to use a pillow with a traditional shape that also has memory foam in it that will conform to your neck and head’s contours. There are also some circular pillows made out of memory foam. Memory foam pillow manufacturers claim that they help with promoting proper spine alignment.

The Shredded Memory Foam side sleeper pillow by Coop Home Goods is a very heavy-duty pillow that will keep your neck in the perfect position for a good night’s sleep.

3. Whenever you are reclining while watching TV or riding in a plane, train or car, using a horseshoe-shaped pillow will provide your neck with the proper support and help to keep your head from dropping over to one side when you doze off. However, if your pillow behind your neck is too large, your head will be forced forward.

4. You should avoid using a pillow that is too stiff or too high. These pillows will keep your neck flexed all night long and can cause you to wake up pain and stiffness in the next morning.

5. If you tend to sleep on your side, make sure that your spine is kept straight. You should use a pillow that is higher underneath your neck compared to under your head.

6. It can be something that is hard to change but sleeping on your stomach can be hard on your spine. That is because your back is arched and your neck is turned on it side. We don’t always wake up in the exact same position that we started last night. And there is no doubt that we often prefer sleeping positions that we established and got familiar early in life and it is hard to change. However, it is worth it to try to start out sleeping on your back or side - that are more well-supported and healthy position.

Check out best pillows from Amazon here

Going Beyond Your Sleeping Position

Researchers in a 2008 study compared the musculoskeletal pain of 4,140 healthy women and men, both without and with sleeping problems. The sleeping problems that subjects had included non-restorative sleep, waking up too early in the morning, having problems staying asleep and difficulties falling asleep. It was found that individuals reporting severe or moderate problems in three or more of the four categories had a significantly higher chance of developing chronic musculoskeletal pain in one year compared to individuals who reported no or few sleep problems. One potential explanation for this is that a sleep disturbance may disrupt the healing and muscle relaxation that usually takes place during sleep. In addition, it is also well established that sleep can be disrupted by pain, which can contribution to a very vicious cycle of sleep being disrupted by pain and then sleep problems themselves causing or adding to one’s existing pain.

What you can do with your neck pain from sleeping wrong postion?

There are a lot of question of neck pain from sleeping wrong. The question is what can you do now? You wake up with neck pain, you can't move the neck and you don't know which way you should go? Should you treat it? Should you put ice or the heat on it? Should you take medicine? Should you go to a doctor? 

The bottom line is most people who wake up with neck pain are sleeping on the wrong pillow so you need to make sure that the way that I'm standing or you're standing, the way you're sitting should be the same position in the alignment with your shoulders, head and neck all the time.

You need to make sure that whatever pillow you use: foam, memory foam, feather  that your head is in a straight position as if you're standing or sitting. Your head should not be propped down, prop up. You should not be on your stomach with your head turned 45 degrees. It needs to be in a neutral plane the same way that you're standing or sitting.

So when you get up you'll notice the muscles shortened and the muscle shorten its contracted. The way you can release that contraction is twofold: you can heat it with moist heat - a heating pad, a hot shower - and immediately after when the muscles nice and warm you can take your head - if it's  my left side that's contracted you're going to pull it to the right and you're going to hold it for 10 seconds.

Take your head and pull it to the right and hold it for 10 seconds

You can turn your chin upwards and pull it forward to the right. You're going to hold it 10 seconds. You actually pull it backwards to the right but you want to elongate the muscle the longer you leave the muscle in a short and contracted position the more pain and contracture is going to give you and the more delay of healing it's going to take for that area to get well. Make it a great day.