How to Sleep Better with Neck or Back Pain

A good night’s sleep should not leave you stiff when you wake up in the morning. But, if you deal with neck or back pain, chances are your sleep is making things worse, not better. So, how do we optimize your sleep setup and routine to start waking up feeling refreshed?

The Problem with Sleep and Pain

While you’re asleep, this is the time the body is using all it’s systems to repair itself. However, when your spine isn’t a neutral position, muscles tightens, nerves become compressed and inflammation builds. Poor sleep posture can create new pain or make old injuries harder to recover from.

The Best Sleeping Positions for Spinal Health

Good Positions:

• Back sleeping with support

◦ Place a pillow under your knees to take pressure off your low back.

• Side Sleeping with alignment

◦ Use a pillow between your knees to keep hips level and a supportive neck pillow.

Bad Positions:

• Stomach sleeping

◦ This forces your head into rotation for hours and strains the lower back

Using the Right Pillows & Mattresses Matter

Here are a few of the things you should pay attention to when it comes to selecting the right pillows and mattresses for yourself:

◦ A medium-firm mattress to support spinal curves

◦ A cervical counter pillow to support the neck natural curvature

◦ A high or medium loft pillow is best for back or side sleeper

◦ A low loft pillow is best for stomach sleeper

How can Chiropractic Help?

Chiropractic care addresses more than just joint alignment, it helps to reduce muscle tension, calm the nervous system, and relives inflammation that interferes with restful sleep.

To help improve these poor sleeping conditions that leave you sore and exhausted when you wake up in the morning, we will preform gentle, targeted adjustments to restore movement in the spine and relive pressure on nearby nerves. When your spine moves the way it’s meant to, your body can relax deeper, and your nervous system shifts out of “fight or flight” mode into your more restorative state which is ideal for a restful sleep.

We don’t stop there.

We also incorporate myofascial release to address the soft tissue restrictions that contribute to nighttime stiffness and disrupted sleep. Myofascial release helps relax the fascia (the connective tissue surrounding your muscles), improve blood flow, and reduce that “tight and achy” feeling you wake up with.

In fact, a 2021 systematic review published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice found that myofascial release significantly improved pain, sleep quality, and overall quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia—a condition marked by widespread pain and poor sleep.¹ While fibromyalgia is complex, many of the same principles apply to people struggling with neck or back pain.

By combining spinal adjustments with targeted muscle work, we create a more complete approach to sleep-related pain:

• Looser muscles

• Calmer nerves

• Less tossing and turning

• Deeper, more restorative sleep

Ready to stop waking up in pain?

Book your custom sleep posture evaluation today and experience the difference chiropractic and muscle work can make.