Poor posture can lead to pain, but good posture doesn’t apply only when you are awake, it is just as important when you’re sleeping as well. The key is maintaining a neutral spine, or in other words a position that supports the natural curve and contour of the spine, including your neck.
If you are sleeping with a twisted or unsupported spine for too long the spine will experience stress and cause surrounding muscles, joints and ligaments to become sore, stiff, and painful. This blog will help to educate you on ideal sleeping positions for a better night sleep and hopefully improved management of pain.
The Foundation
Your mattress, head pillow, and supporting pillows are the foundation of making sure you have good alignment in your spine. Again, when choosing a mattress and head pillow, you want to choose something that will support the natural curve of your spine. Consider your shape and body type, and consider your most preferred way of sleeping whether it is your back, sides or stomach.
For your head pillow, always make sure it’s under just your head and not your shoulders, and be mindful of how high or low your pillow is. You want your head to be in alignment with your shoulders and rest of your body. As for supporting pillows, that depends on which way you sleep.
Back Sleepers
The best way to keep your spine in neutral when sleeping is by laying on your back with a supporting pillow under your knees, being sure your head pillow fills the space between your neck and mattress to support the curve. A small roll can be used as well. This position also helps reduce pain in the hips due to the way it relieves the pressure.
Side Sleepers
Side sleepers often find better positioning with a thicker head pillow placed so that it supports under the neck, with a supporting pillow between the knees to prevent a twisting of the spine and increased pressure on the hips. Try not to twist your lower body by positioning the top leg in front of the bottom leg.
Stomach Sleepers
Stomach sleepers often have the most stress on their spine when sleeping, but placing a flat pillow under the low stomach and pelvis area can help. Your head pillow should also be flat, or you should sleep without a pillow.
Considering people sleep for up to 8 or more hours a day (if you’re lucky), a proper sleeping position is extremely important so that your body isn’t twisted or your spine isn’t experiencing increased stress for prolonged periods of time. Finding the right mattress, supporting pillows and head pillows might be some trial and error, but with the right information you’ll be able to find what is best for your body!