By Having tightness and pain in your lower back when you wake up can be the difference between a great start to your day and one filled with frustration. A single night of poor sleep alignment can leave you tight in the morning, have an increase in pain, and will cause you to feel frustrated throughout the day.
Thus, why it is important to determine the ideal way to align while you sleep if you have lower back pain in the morning. Sleeping in either position will promote much better alignment of your spine and help to relieve any tightness that may develop during the night. This will make it much easier to manage your morning routine.
Well established health professionals have agreed that the best sleep positions for maintaining a good spinal alignment would be either side sleeping with knee support or back sleeping with pillow support. Stomach sleeping has also been found to be the least beneficial to the lower back.
Why lower back pain feels worse at night
At night, purchases for lower back pain may be easily identified because your weight is generally supported while you are lying down. When you are active during the day (i.e. walking, performing daily activities, etc.), you may have been able to ignore your discomfort through movement, etc. However, as a result of being totally inactive, feeling no sensation of weight on your lower back, you will now be only aware of what and how much pain you have.
It is also thought that sleep will affect lower back pain in some sort of circular fashion where poor sleep will contribute to more severe back pain causing poor sleep resulting in a cycle. When you sleep with lower back pain, you will experience stiffness in the morning as a result of remaining in one position for many hours. If your spine is rotated, therefore, causing uneven hips or your mattress is inadequate to support your spine, you may awaken from the effects of lack of movement during sleep with stiffness and no rest.
Step-by-step: the best way to sleep with lower back pain
Step 1: Select the best sleeping position for your spine
The ideal starting point for most individuals is sleeping on their side with their hips and knees slightly bent. This will allow your spine to remain in proper alignment, particularly if you position a pillow between your knees to help keep your hips from twisting and placing added tension on your lower back. Both Again, for lower back pain, the Sleep Foundation and Cleveland Clinic stress sleeping on one’s side, along with the Mayo Clinic, which is supportive of positions maintaining your spine’s natural arch.
If you find side sleeping uncomfortable, then sleeping on your back with a pillow under your knees or a rolled-up towel under your waist is the next best alternative. Making either of these changes will allow your lower back muscles to relax and allow you to keep your lower back in its natural curve.
Step 2: Use pillows to support your spine by removing tension,
In addition to being able to provide comfort, pillows may also be used to maintain proper spinal alignment if you are suffering from lower back pain.
If you are a side sleeper, you should place a firm pillow between your knees to help support your lower back. If your upper leg tends to fall forward, a body pillow will help to keep your pelvis aligned horizontally. If you are sleeping on your back, place a pillow under each of your knees to stop your lower back from arching too far in either direction, or in this instance, you may feel better with a smaller amount of cushion underneath your lower back.
The main idea here is to reduce twisting. If your hips, knees and shoulders are better aligned one on top of another, your spine does less work for you throughout the night.
Step 3: Caution With The Stomach Sleep
Stomach sleeping usually makes lesser back problem worse than if the body is in a better position. Lying on your stomach will flatten the natural curvature of your spine, putting the neck in a very unnatural position. Both Mayo Clinic and Sleep Foundation have found that stomach sleepers typically create extra stress for their lesser backs.
If you cannot fall asleep any other position, you could utilize some mitigation strategies to make it less impactful by trying to place a thin pillow under your hips or lower abdomen. This will reduce the amount of “arching” that you will experience in your lower back. Otherwise, you should treat this as a backup position rather than establishing a new habit of stomach sleeping.
Step 4: Is Your Mattress Helping or Hurting?
If your mattress is too soft, it could allow your lower back to sink into the mattress. Conversely, if your mattress is too firm, it could create pressure point(s) that cause the muscles of your back to remain tight and/or tense. The Sleep Foundation has indicated that a medium-firm mattress is typically best at providing a balance between comfort and support for many people with lesser back pain, although a mattress’s comfort ultimately depends on body type, sleep position and personal preferences.
If replacing your mattress is not feasible at this time, you may improve the quality of your current mattress by adding a quality mattress pad, especially if your mattress has sagged or has an uneven sleeping surface. Overall, do not be overly concerned with “Luxury” mattresses, worry more about “Support”.
Step 5: Get out of bed without twisting your back
This may seem small, however it is a very important consideration. If you wake-up feeling stiff, the way you get out of bed could calm that stiffness or re-irritate it. According to the Cleveland Clinic it is suggested that you roll onto your side first, bring your legs up then pushing up with your arms instead of bending your waist will ease that stiffness.
This same method applies to making position changes at night. Avoid “sudden” twisting movements because they can create a jammed area at lower back after several hours of lying still.
Effective practical sleeping configurations
For many people, the easiest sleeping configuration is also the best. A side sleeper can benefit from having a pillow between their knees and a pillow under their head (to keep the neck straight in relation to the shoulders). And, a back sleeper will benefit from a pillow under their knees as well as a standard supporting pillow under their head. The above configurations will maintain the body in a neutral position – which is how a spine wants to lay while sleeping.
If you wake-up stiff daily then pick one item to change at a time – either the knee pillow, or the mattress, or the head pillow height. Small modifications are often more effective than large changes since it allows you to identify which change made a difference.
When Lower Back Pain Requires Medical Attention
Most common back pain improves after several weeks with self-care, but there are causes for which you should consult a physician. Seek medical attention if your back pain hasn’t improved after three to six weeks of home treatments, prevents you from participating in your normal daily activities, worsens at night or if you have lost weight, have swelling, or changes to the shape of your spine.
The Sleep Foundation states to see your doctor if you have back pain following an injury, you have pain that radiates down into the legs, you have weakness in one or both legs, you have numbness in both legs or if you have fever, urinary failure, or unexplained changes to your health.
Conclusion
You should pay special attention to back pain that wakes you up at night. Night pain should not be ignored for long periods of time. There are many reasons why someone may experience night pain due to their lower back, and proper alignment, positioning, and supporting your body during sleep is essential. Side sleeping with a pillow between your knees is typically supportive of your lower back and sleeping on your back with a pillow under your knees is another good position for reducing strain and waking less stiff.
Make one simple change tonight to your sleep habits. Change your pillow(s), evaluate the support of your mattress, and lie down to see how your body is aligned. These three simple changes can help you wake in the morning with less pain or stiffness.