The Best Sleeping Position for Neck Pain | Chiropractor for Neck Pain in West Omaha, NE
Hey there, Dr. Jeremiah Sample and this is Julie. And we’re here from Family First Chiropractic to talk to you today about sleep positions.
Generally when people sleep they sleep in one of three ways either on their back, on their side or on their stomach in what we like to call the Captain Morgan position because one leg generally goes straight one leg heights all the way up. Alright, the problem with these positions is that they cause a lot of stress on the spine if not done properly.
So let’s start from the back again. So the position Julie is currently in has a pillow that is too high, pushing her head and neck forward. Now what this does it obstructs the airway and it causes stress on the cervical spine and thoracic spine. Well, we have to worry about when we’re sleeping our back is how do we get the head and the shoulders into alignment. So what we’ll do is replace this with a smaller pillow. That’s going to more naturally mimic the cervical curvature. This allows for an open airway and the stress on those nerves as they exit.
Now let’s say that Julie is a side sleeper. What she has to do is the same thing that she did before while on her back is ensuring that her head is in alignment with the rest of her spine. I see this pillows a bit too small, so it pushes her head down. What that’s going to do is cause a lot of stress in this area and cause it to roll his shoulders forward more eventually leading to like numbness in the hands or tingling in the morning. What we’ll do is we’ll bring a bigger pillow in. Now, add his alignment with the rest of the spy, which you can also do in order to get off that shoulder girdle and stop cramping those blood vessels and the nervous system as it exits. Put a pillow behind her. Now she gets slightly leaning that pillow and see how he folds his shoulder forward because you do the same thing with the opposite hit. Now she’s off the pelvic girdle off the shoulder girdle and much more on our flank. The safer way to sleep. thing you can do in order to keep from having this hip pole and causing stress in the low back. But a pillow between the legs is keeps that femur from falling on the pelvic girdle, causing additional stress. Possibly sleep with your favorite stuffed animal as well get a good night’s rest.
Now if you’re wondering about sleeping on your stomach and that captain morgan position and a safe way to do it, it really doesn’t exist so we don’t recommend it.
If you have questions about your own sleep positions, or getting better sleep or maybe sleep for a loved one, please comment below and we’ll get back to you!
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