The standing posture and the sitting posture is talked about so much in my setting, but what about the 6-8 hours of sleeping posture. I always advise people this is an individual thing that each one of us has a different answer. The rule of thumb is if you wake up typically on your side then your a side sleeper for the majority of the time you sleep. The same rule applies if you find yourself waking up on your back. If your a side sleeper, for one you should try to have a softer bed to allow the shoulders and hips to dive into the bed so the bed can support your neck and lower back. If you are a back sleeper, then a more firm bed is the best option to maintain alignment and avoid a stress/strain irritation pattern.
The pillow I use tends to deform each night and over hours changes, but if you were considering an easy habit of flipping the pillow each night will assist in improving your neck pain. If your not sure if you need more or less pillow support, I recommend my patients to take a picture from behind their bodies and look to see after they lie down is the head in line with the rest of your spine/trunk.
I hope this brings relief to some of you and is easy to modify to improve your quality of sleep.
Cheers,
Dr. Dustin Hancock, PT, DPT
Comments