Neck pain is the second most common injury we treat at Sharp Physiotherapy and as we have discussed in previous blogs, identifying the underlying cause of your pain is the most important factor when treating musculoskeletal injuries.
“A good physiotherapist will improve your pain but a great physiotherapist will put the strategies in place to protect you long term and minimise your risk of injury reoccurrence.”
When assessing neck pain, sleeping position is the first place we look for identifying neck pain triggers and we find a large percentage of our neck pain patients are sleeping in positions that are predisposing them to neck pain.
What position do you sleep in?
Have you ever considered that your sleeping position may be the driving force behind all of your neck problems? Below are the most common sleeping positions that will very often lead you to neck pain:
• Laying on your front with your head turned.
• Laying on your side with too many pillows.
• Laying on your back with too many pillows.
The average person will spend a third of their entire life in bed, so being comfortable and in a neck friendly position is paramount. Most people find that front laying with their head turned is the most comfortable position for getting to sleep, but this is a dangerous position for the small joints that make up the neck.
This is because the joints will be taken into end of range extension, side flexion and rotation and any joint that is consistently taken to its end range will eventually develop problems. Over a 6-8-hour period, abnormal stress will be put on the soft tissue structures around the neck and wreak havoc on the joints.
The question to ask yourself is, could your sleeping position be the trigger for your neck pain and what impact will this have on your neck in months and years to come?
Here are potential signs that your sleeping position may be contributing to neck pain:
• You wake up in the night and have to move to get comfortable.
• Your neck feels stiffer first thing in the morning.
• You struggle to lift your head off your pillow in the morning.
• You are reaching for painkillers first thing in the morning.
What can be done?
If you are experiencing neck pain and can relate to any of the information within this blog, then it is time to make a decision about getting help. Also, there are simple changes you can make at home that could make an immediate difference to your neck pain.
Strategies you can implement at home:
1. A side lying sleeping position with one pillow as this will promote a neutral spine when asleep.
2. Pillows too firm will over support and too soft will under support so something ‘straight down the middle’ will usually suffice.
3. Avoid too many pillows.
4. Incorporate a stretching program in to your daily routine.
If you are unsure of the best action to take for your neck and would like to discuss with a member of our team, we offer free telephone consultations to help you make the right decision on your health.
Best wishes,
Joe
