Less pain means sleeping better

Sleeping for Better Posture

 Who doesn’t love coming home from a long day of work to curl up in bed and fall asleep? However, the position in which you sleep greatly impacts your postural health. Curling up or sleeping on your stomach can have detrimental effects on your musculoskeletal health. Here are some tips to finding the best night rest for you. Waking up pain free and refreshed ready for your day ahead is a great sign you are sleeping the in the correct postural position.  

Neck Pain and Postural Sleeping issues

 Do you sometimes wake up with a sore or stiff neck after a nights’ rest? Or does your back ache after waking up? This could be due to your posture while sleeping. Believe it or not there is such thing as too much pillow support. Sleeping on your back with too much pillow support can cause neck and back pain. This type of sleeping position promotes a forward head position which can result on strain being placed on the cervical spine and neck muscles. To correct this issue, it is important to use the right height pillow. We recommend using no pillow and a small towel for support while sleeping on your back. Head to our website www.brisbanepostureandperformance.com 

for more details We recommend the adjustable ABCA posture pillow which promotes the correct head height while side sleeping for your individual spine.  

Sleeping Posture While Pregnant

 Finding a comfortable position to fall sleep in can be difficult, especially while pregnant. Pregnancy already takes a massive toll on your body, particularly your posture. However, there are a few things you can do to help your posture while sleeping. It is recommended that while pregnant you sleep on your left side to allow for optimal blood flow to the baby. Though it is important to have the correct posture to protect your spine while in this position. Sleeping on your side with a pillow between your knees can aid in keeping your spine in a neutral position, which can reduce the likelihood of back soreness and stiffness.  

Sleeping Posture for Sciatica

 Sciatica can be a real pain especially while trying to sleep. Tension and stress on the sciatic nerves can result in sciatica, which can detrimentally impact your health and wellbeing. While sleeping there are a few ways of preventing this from occurring. Keeping your hips, knees, and shoulders aligned can avoid twisting of the torso. This postural position results in reduced tension being placed on your spinal cord. Decreasing the amount of tension placed on the spinal cord can lead to reduced stress being placed on the sciatic nerves. It is important to maintain a neutral spine while sleeping by aligning the knees, hips and shoulders to avoid this issue from occurring.  

Sleeping With Shoulder Pain

Any pain can disrupt sleep or make sleeping difficult. Shoulder pain can be particularly annoying when trying to get a good night’s rest. 

Here are some tips for sleeping on your side and back while your shoulder is in pain. For side sleepers the height of your pillows is key. It is important to have the correct height pillow to suit your spine and neck. 

Aim to have your shoulder and neck angle close to 90 degrees. A great way to check in with your pillow posture is to see if your top shoulder rolls forward or backward. 

If your pillow is too high your top shoulder will roll back, and if your pillow is too low your top shoulder will roll forward. If you sleep on your back it is important to keep your pillow as low as possible to reduce flexion (forward head carriage). This postural position results in less tension being placed on the neck. 

There are numerous postural muscles that support the neck located in the upper back and shoulders. It is important to reduce the tension being placed on these areas, as excessive load on these muscles can lead to increase muscular and referred nerve pain in shoulders.

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