At least once in everyone’s lifetime, back or neck pain comes knocking on the door because of the way they sleep. Even with the best of intentions while always taking the right precautions, those little aches and pains will eventually appear. The best that anyone can hope for is the pain from sleeping wrong is an isolated case, and it goes away rather quickly. In fact, there are things you can do to get rid of neck pain after a night of sleeping in the wrong position. There are also a number of things you can do to help prevent it from happening in the first place. We will cover these topics in the section below. At this point, we would like to discuss what causes neck/back pain while sleeping. For the most part, it is all about bad sleeping habits. You see, the human body was made a certain way. All human bodies function in much the same way, which means the laws of biological physics apply to everyone.
If neck pain is a regular visitor when you wake up in the morning, it very likely has to do with the way you sleep during the night, meaning the position in which you sleep. If you don’t want neck pain, you have to avoid the following:
- Sleeping on your stomach, it puts your neck in an unnatural position
- Sleeping with your dominant hand anywhere near your forehead, it causes issues with the upper trapezius and scalene muscles on the right side of the neck
- Sleeping with a pillow that is too stiff, it causes issues because the neck needs flexibility as you move about at night
These are the don’ts of sleeping if you want to avoid neck pain. Now for the other side of the coin.
How to Get Rid of Neck Pain From Sleeping Wrong
If you do the don’ts and end up with neck pain, you will want to rid yourself of the issue as soon as possible. There are a lot of things you can do to relieve the pain and several things you can do in the future to avoid the pain. First things first. You woke up with neck pain this morning? Try these methods of getting rid of the pain:
- Slowly exercise the neck muscles to reduce inflammation, which is likely the cause of your pain
- Soak in a warm bath to relax the neck muscles
- Alternate applying cold and hot compresses to the stiff area
- Holistic treatments like acupuncture or massage therapy
- Visit chiropractor for a neck and back realignment
We would like to draw your attention to the last item on this list. Over the course of a month, we see quite a few patients who complain of neck pain that likely happened due to their sleeping habits. We immediately get images of the area to make sure there is no relevant structural damage. If everything looks clear, we can proceed to do manual adjustments to the neck and back. It might not relieve pain immediately, but after a few adjustments, you should start to see your neck pain going away. As for preventative measures you can take to avoid neck pain in the future, you might want to consider the following:
- Avoid cool air. That means closing the window because cold air causes the neck muscles to restrict to keep the neck area warm
- Manage your stress better. When you feel stress, the muscle in your neck and back will reflect it. Manage your stress better and your muscles will relax
- Keeping good posture while sitting during the day puts less strain on the neck muscles throughout the entire day
- Sleep on your back or side, use a pillow between your knees, and find a pillow that offers support and some flexibility
Follow these tips and see what happens. If you are currently dealing with neck or back pain for any reason, we would like to invite you in for a chiropractic adjustment. We’ll take a look at the area in question and decide on the proper course of treatment. For your part, you can call one of our staff members for an appointment. The number is 205-637-1363. During that initial phone call, please feel free to ask any questions about the process or the cost of our services.
