Sleeping With Lower Back Pain: Which Position Is Best?

Having lower back pain comes with a lot of disturbing difficulties to your work and daily activities.

However, not only does a lower back pain affect your work, but your sleep too! A back pain at night while sleeping reduces your relaxation time; and has a great impact on your work during daytime.

No one likes their work and daily activities to be affected by lower back pain, especially after going through pain while sleeping.

Lower back pain is not only caused by medical conditions like cancer and arthritis as most people tend to believe, but your poor sleeping posture can be a cause as well. Stress, strains, spinal misalignments, spinal degeneration are also key contributors to back pains!

Now, if you happen to feel muscle aches, stabbing pains or pain that radiates down your legs, then you would have to change your sleeping position so as to ease your body pain.

Do you know back pain is gradually becoming one of the main reasons for disabilities worldwide? Oh yes. So you want to avoid any wrong postures that would lead to back pain.

In order for you to have a quality night’s rest, in this article you will find the best sleeping position for lower back pain which will ensure you no longer feel pain while asleep!

PS: Generally, back pain vanishes within a few weeks of self-care and home treatment, however if it persists, we’ll advise you to search for a chiropractor near me and seek the help of a professional chiropractor.

Causes Of Lower Back Pain

As earlier explained, lower back pain does not only develop as a result of serious medical conditions, but stress, strain, injuries, spinal misalignments, spinal degeneration and poor sleeping posture!

Luckily, some lower back pains can be minor conditions and an average person would be relieved of them after home treatments and medications.

However, if the symptoms persist for a longer period of time, it signifies a quick medical attention from a chiropractor or a medical doctor.

Before we look into the causes, some common symptoms of lower back pain include:

• Ache anywhere in the lower back area
• Muscle ache and stiffness at the lower back
• Shooting pains from the lower back
• Pains that go down your legs and buttocks

Now that you are aware of some of the common symptoms of back pain, let’s look at what causes them:

• Strain: Carrying out activities that strain your back muscles are a major factor that contributes to having back pain.

And oftentimes, strains are the major causes of back pain, so you should check the kind of activities that you perform in order not to strain your muscles and ligaments.

Lifting objects improperly, lifting heavy objects and making abrupt or awkward movements often lead to strains which will eventually result in back pain!

• Fractures and Fall: Fracture of a bone in your back when you fall often results in back pain. This is also one of the common causes as anyone is susceptible to a fall!

However, you may not feel the pain immediately. You will definitely feel it when you are ready to sleep or sleeping!

For this reason, you would need to sleep in the best sleeping position(we’ll come back to this in the latter part of the article) that will ensure you feel no pain.

• Poor Sleeping Position: Yes! Your sleeping position contributes largely to the pain that you feel in your lower back.

Sleeping in a bad posture and on a bad mattress causes back pain!

So, you should cultivate the habit of maintaining the best sleeping position so as to ease the back pain at night.

• Arthritis: As to many who have been waiting for the medical conditions that can cause back pain, here is one.

Arthritis (also Osteoarthritis) is a disease that causes pain, stiffness and swelling in one or more joints of the body.

So, arthritis can affect the joints in the hips and the lower back which will give you sharp lower back pain! Arthritis can also affect the spinal joints causing degeneration which, from a Chiropractor’s point of view, can be caused by spinal misalignments that remain uncorrected.

Although there have been no proven cure for Osteoarthritis, there are great treatments that will help manage the pains.

If you are not a fan of medicines, we recommend that you consult a chiropractor for natural procedures to ease the pain.

• Osteoporosis: Like Osteoarthritis, this is a medical condition in which the bones become weak and can easily be broken!

Bones in the lower back such as the vertebrae of the spine become porous and brittle; giving room for fractures at any point of time!

Also, like arthritis, it can’t be cured, but a chiropractor can provide natural methods that can help manage the pains.

You should also know that back pain can result from poor posture and our daily activities like standing or sitting for a longer time, long driving without breaks among others!

Best Sleeping Positions For Lower Back Pain

Agreed! You have a favorite sleeping position. However, when you are experiencing back pain at night while sleeping, that posture may be your worst nightmare!

So, in order for you to enjoy your night’s rest even with back pain, here are some of the best sleeping positions for lower back pain that will help:

1. Sleep On Your Side And Use A Pillow Between Your Knees:

Of course you wouldn’t want to sleep on the aching back… or would you? If NO, then try sleeping on your side.

Sleep to either your right or left with your shoulder making contact with your mattress, then use one or two pillows in between your knees- simple!

Side sleeping won’t only help ease the pain, but it helps to keep your pelvis, spine and hips in an even better alignment.

2. Sleep On Your Side In The Fetal Position:

This position is best suited for those who have a herniated disc; Sleeping sideways in a fetal position will help you sleep well even with the pain!

Place your knees gently towards your chest and curl your torso toward your knees. Then you’re good to go!

A benefit of sleeping in this position is that your spine will be elongated thereby ensuring comfort as you sleep.

3. Sleep On Your Stomach With A Pillow Under Your Abdomen:

Oh… Yes, I know what’s going through your mind now. Tummy sleeping isn’t good right? Yes, you’re perfectly correct as it will add stress to your neck!

However, with a pillow, this position is a big yes-yes. Slip a thin pillow under your hips and lower abdomen so as to relieve your back of much pressure.

Then it is up to you to use a pillow to support your head or not.

4. Sleep On Your Back With A Pillow Under Your Knees:

Back sleeping has proven to be the best sleeping position for back pain. However, very little percentage of people sleep on their back!

You achieve this by placing a pillow under your knees, and rest on your back- the pillow helps to keep your spine in a neutral position.

This position ensures that your weight is evenly distributed and relieves some areas of pressure!

Helpful  Treatments For Back Pain

Back pain usually vanishes after a period of few weeks with or without much medical attention. So, when next you develop a back pain, do well to follow these tips to treat it.

• Apply hot and/or cold compress
• Use an ice pack to massage the area
• Reduce engagements in strenuous activities
• Yoga and chiropractic care

Bottom Line

Lower back pain is really painful and sleeping with it in the wrong way can be catastrophic! This article has examined the best sleeping positions that will ensure you feel no pains all while sleeping.

Live a good life by maintaining good body posture and if you need natural help with lower back pain, we advise you see a chiropractor.