Now we're going to be looking at positions to sleep on your back, the most comfortable way to sleep on your back using a pillow, the most comfortable position for sleeping on your side, and a position for sleeping on your tummy even though it's not recommended for sleeping particularly with neck pain, but I will show you position that you might be able to get away with if you really need to be a tummy sleeper.
The spine is naturally curved and so when we lie on our back at night these curves need to be supported. There's some little joints in the side of the spine, these are called facet joints. These joints don't like being jammed up like that they like being comfortable in a composition. So if you're lying with the pillow too far or too far down, they will get jammed up, that's what will happen with a low pillow, and with a pillow too high will actually put stretch on the tissues, too through the back of the neck, so we want the head to be in a nice neutral position.
In the same way, when you're lying on your side, you want the neck to be straight again as well, if you're lying with your head too far down you'll squash up those little joints a little facet joints down below, or if the head is too high you'll do the same thing this side.
If you're lying on your tummy, you can see you're going to jam those positions at the extreme range of movement and your neck isn't going to like that at all.
So let's talk about the most comfortable ways of keeping those neck joints in a nice comfortable alignment and the tissue is well supported, so probably the most comfortable position for sleeping with neck pain is lying on your back.
- For Sleeping On Your Back
Thinner Pillow - Towel Roll
When you are sleeping on your back but you want to have the thinner pillow and that you're using maybe a little towel or something small just to support the curve in the neck.
Feather Pillow - Create Shape Like Towel Roll
So I want to show you another way that you can comfortably sleep lying on your back, the other option is for you to use a feather pillow.
And the beauty of a feather pillow or a memory pillow is that you can actually remove the feathers and actually create a bit of an indent to the head, and you'll still have the pouch.
So that's a really nice way for you to sleep on your back just thinking about the type of material you're using with your pillow and the height of the pillow.
- For Sleeping On Your Side
Let's talk now about sleeping on your side.
You need a thick pillow to support your head and neck comfortably, the wider the shoulders, the thicker the pillow you use. Of course if you're perhaps moment petite, you might be able to get away with using one thick pillow. The important thing is that you get some nice side support through there, and salute your heads not tilted across to one side if the pillows too low or back up if the pillows too high. So keep the head is straight and it's in line with the neck and the middle back.
And that's where that is photos can come in handy that we can take to look at your back, so you can get someone at home to do that just to check your alignment inside line.
- For Sleeping On Your Stomach
So finally let's talk about sleeping on your tummy but We're not recommending this.
No Pillow Under Head - Pillow Under Your Chest Instead
So the first thing to do if you're a tummy sleeper is to get rid of the pillow, you don't want any pillow underneath your head, you're actually going to use the pillow underneath your chest to lie on to prop yourself up, but some people at home might find that they can get away with sleeping on their tummy using a pillow or a couple of clothes underneath the chest, but it's not something we standardly recommend for neck pain, so it's not a position that you use for neck pain.
So you can see that we've gone through three positions you can use for sleeping now. The first position that we discuss is sleeping on your back and using a thin pillow or a feather pillow. Other position is sleeping on your side perhaps using a thicker pillow or the pillows to use. So we'd love to hear your comments at home for which position and suits you and gives you a most comfortable night's sleep.
We hope this article helps you get a good night's rest.
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