How to Relieve Shoulder Pain from Sleeping on Side?
Before any of the discussions let me ask you, what is your most comfortable position for sleeping? We all are different and have diverse comfort zones. Sleeping is one of the important parts of our life. After a full exhausting day, we need some proper boost-up.
But do you know what damages we have been doing so long while sleeping, all these days? For those who love to sleep on either of their sides or curling up the whole body, this is for you. You have been damaging your shoulders unknowingly for so long. Isn’t it shocking? But there are certain things we can change to stop this unhealthy trend. It’s better to be cautious now rather than suffering later.
Shoulder pain and side sleeping
We all have different sleeping postures, which can give us comfort and proper sleep. But these postures can be dangerous for you. Sometimes people prefer to sleep on their sides. This posture is not good for your body. Tell me how do you sleep at first? If the posture is not usual, don’t you feel pain in any part of your body, or the one side you were lying down on?
The people, who sleep on their shoulders, must have felt some pain after waking up in the mooring. Maybe a night or even ten nights will not affect anyone, but there is no surety that shoulder pain will not affect you. You may think that you will never have shoulder pain because of your sleeping style. Well, people are not aware that every night you sleep on any of the sides of your body; you put pressure on that part. Shoulders are mostly affected if any person sleeps on either side.
A survey was conducted once, to find out the reason behind the most common cause of shoulder pain. The data was collected from the people who have shoulder pain.At the end of the process, it was found out that, among all of the respondents around 67% of the total participants sleep on a particular side every night.
The side sleeper shoulder pain is a very common condition because of lack of awareness.
Why does side sleeping cause shoulder pain?
We often feel pain in our back, whenever we sit in a single place for a long time. The human body needs to function properly, for that we need to keep ourselves mobile most of the time. When sitting in the same place or chair can cause so much pain in the spine or back, what might be happening to your back or shoulder? The night is the only part of a day when people can sleep for a long time. The experience might vary from person to person, but our shoulder is not designed to take such body load for a long period.
You might not experience any kind of changes or pain but that does not mean that your sleeping habits are not affecting your muscles. The pressure might cause a less apparent injury to feel bad. Shoulder pain from sleeping on your side is visible among old people as well. This is very necessary to maintain good postures; especially in certain cases, where the activity goes on for a long time. We often get busy with our daily schedule and ignore our health, it is very important to maintain as much as we can.
What are the common causes of shoulder pain?
Previously we have discussed one of the major reasons for shoulder pain, but we are not aware of the other reason. It is very important to know about the cause of a certain event so that we can stop it at the right moment. Shoulder pain cannot occur after a day, it is a long and steady process. Long-term negligence may result in severe problems. The below-mentioned pointers are some of the examples:
Shoulder Bursitis
A small filled sack that can develop a muscle cushion on your joint is termed Bursae. Generally, they are already present in our body, but when these sacks inflame, those are further termed as Bursitis. The major reasons after the development of Bursitis are as follows:
- Heavy tasks – If you are into sports or any kind of activity that needs a lot of exercises this issue may occur. A lot of pressure on the shoulder causes bursitis injury on your joints. Sports and heavy activities can cause bursitis.
- Loading – We often see people carrying heavy loads, these activities injure the muscles as well. One should be very careful while doing such tasks.
Generally, you will not feel any kind of pain at the moment. But you might face issues whenever you have to use your shoulder, the muscles might ache. Whenever the pressure is applied, or maybe when you are lying down; these will lead to certain pain at your joints.
Rotator Cuff Injury
Do you know that there is a collection of tendons around your shoulder? Those tiny tendons help to keep your shoulder in its socket properly. But when these tendons become inflamed, the rotator cuff injury occurs. Not always this fracture occurs due to an accident. Most people have to face such injuries due to the below-mentioned reasons:
- Heave usage – If you are into hardcore sports and practise the stunts like rowing and throwing, there might be a high chance that the tendons may get displaced. It is not a matter of a day; this can take place slowly over time. Rotator cuff injury needs immediate medical treatment, or it may be damaged permanently.
- Sports – Those who are into sports are bound to practise daily and exercise. The rigorous training causes Cuff injury.
Cuff injuries have certain symptoms like dull pain, pain while using your shoulders, loss of stiffness, and pain while you are sleeping or lying. You may follow various ways to keep the cuff injuries under control. All you have to do is, change your sleeping position. Best is sleeping on your back, but in case sleeping on your back does not comfort you; then prefer to sleep on the other side of your shoulder. These might help you to overcome the pain and any further injuries. Also changing the sleeping mattress might be a good option.
What are the solutions for shoulder pain?
We have discussed a lot about shoulder pain, how it occurs, why it occurs. In every case, one thing that comes to light is our sleeping posture. Not each one of us was aware that, the sleeping position can affect our body so badly. Mostly we neglect healthy routines, our sleeping timings, diets, daily exercise. As the age of a person increases, there are high chances of sleeping on side shoulder pain. But remember every problem has a solution, let us know about them:
- When you are going to sleep make sure that your body has a straight posture. Try to keep your body straight and try to lie on your back.
- Give proper support to your lower back, neck, and legs while you sleep.
- Try out different positions. A new one might make you uncomfortable for few nights, but it is just a matter of time to get acquainted with it. Avoid the bad shoulder and try the other side.
- Use a pillow to adjust your body and have a comfortable sleep.
- Exercise and be active throughout the day, these healthy activities can improve your physical health.
- You may try to sleep on your stomach, but that might not be that great for your back.
What to do if you can only sleep on your side? Well, in this situation we have one solution for you. That is, you can change your mattress topper. A good quality mattress topper can save you from this crisis. Many people cannot change old age habits in just a few days, everything takes time. Your investment in the mattress won’t go in vain; this is going to help you a lot. This can be a good solution to shoulder pain from sleeping on the side.
Don’t forget to practice a good sleeping habit. Most people watch TV, work on their laptops, and use their phones till late at night before going to sleep. If you are still thinking about, how to relieve shoulder pain from sleeping then I have to tell you a fact. Everything is related to each other, sleeping on your side must be the worst but you also need to take care of your daily routine. These unhealthy activities can affect your sleep as well as your shoulder. Make sure that you know some simple neck exercises or stretch your shoulder so that they do not get affected. You can also consult a good doctor to receive professional suggestions. A doctor must be able to guide you well.
FAQs
Conclusion
Wise men say that health is wealth. We get so engrossed with our daily activities and neglect ourselves. Often people forget that the only reason behind their daily performance is a properly functioning body. Nowadays shoulder pain is a common thing, adults aged between 18 to 26 years are also getting affected. There is nothing to panic about; a small effort can change the state of your physical health. We can share these information with our loved ones, to make them aware before it is too late.
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