How to Relieve Lower Back Pain While Sleeping – What You Can Do
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Do you want to know how to relieve lower back pain while sleeping? A good night’s sleep for more than six hours is essential to your overall health and wellbeing. However, when you have lower spinal pain, it can affect your quality of sleep and disrupt your day-to-day life.
Over 31 million people in the U.S suffer from lower back pain. Ongoing discomfort and pain can leave you awake at night and uncomfortable during the day. How to relieve back pain while sleeping? In today’s article, we will give you some tips. Read on!
Stretching Before Bed
Besides natural remedies like chamomile tea and diffusing essential oils, many people overlook stretching exercises. Research shows that stretching your back before going to bed can help you fall asleep quickly and improve your sleep quality.
A systematic review study conducted in 2016 highlights that meditative movements, including yoga, Tai Chi, and stretching and improve sleep quality. Some of the best stretching exercises to relieve lower back pain are:
- Bear hug
- Kneeling lat stretch
- Child’s pose
- Low lunge
- Seated forward bend
- Reclining bound angle pose
- Knee-to-chest stretch
- Cat-cow stretch
- Piriformis stretch
- Seated spinal twist
- Sphinx stretch
- Pelvic tilt
These are some of the best lower back pain exercises. Not only do these exercises strengthen your back and increase your range of motion, but they also increase blood flow to soothe your muscles. Make sure you consult a qualified physician before performing these lower back pain exercises.
Back Pain Medication
If you have severe back pain, you can take back pain medication. The most common back pain medication options are over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, such as naproxen, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen. NSAIDs, like naproxen and ibuprofen, can relieve lower back pain quickly and help you sleep properly.
When you take ibuprofen, it will block cyclooxygenase or COX, an enzyme that helps produce prostaglandins. A blocked COX will reduce the production of prostaglandins and relieve discomfort, inflammation, and pain in your lower spine. You can also take muscle relaxants to reduce your lower back pain at night. Common muscle relaxants include:
- Baclofen
- Carisoprodol
- Cyclobenzaprine
Adjust Your Sleeping Position
Sometimes, lower back pain is caused by strain, stress, or pressure from an awkward sleeping position, sedentary lifestyle, and bad posture. Neurosurgeons at MINT say that the lower back caused by improper posture, wrong sleeping positions, arthritis, or the degenerative disc can be relieved with proper sleeping positions. MINT’s experts recommend the following sleeping positions to relieve lower back pain. Continue reading!
Fetal Position
The Fetal sleeping position is an excellent way to relieve the spinal pain that results from a herniated disc. Here is how to sleep in the fetal position:
- Lay on your back and roll onto your side gently
- Tuck your knees toward the torso
- Curl your chest toward your knees
- Make sure you switch sides to avoid imbalances
Side Sleeping
How to relieve lower back pain while sleeping in a side position? Many people with lower back pain can’t sleep on their back because it leads to more discomfort and pain. Sleeping on your side with a pillow between your knees can help relieve back pain, especially the discomfort that results from scoliosis.
- Sleep on your side and allow your shoulder to contact the mattress
- Place a soft pillow or cushion between your knees
- Place an extra pillow if your waist and mattress do not align
Sleep on your Back
Sleeping on your back with a soft pillow under your knees can help distribute your weight evenly across your body. That way, you will feel less strain or pressure on your spine. Sleeping on your back likewise aligns your spine with other organs.
- Lay flat on your bed and place a pillow under your knees
- Avoid curving your lower back by keeping your spine neutral
- Place a small towel or cushion under your lower back for additional support
Contact MINT Today
Back pain medication, lower back pain exercises, and proper sleeping positions can help you fall asleep quickly without feeling discomfort and pain. However, if your pain persists for more than two months, it is wise to consult a neurosurgeon at MINT.
MINT is a reputable health clinic in Plano, TX, with qualified, skilled, and experienced neurosurgeons. Our neurosurgeons have treated hundreds of patients with lower back pain using different non-surgical and surgical techniques.
Here at MINT, our neurosurgeons perform minimally invasive surgery to treat lower back pain. Minimally invasive surgery leads to less blood loss, fewer scars, shorter hospital stays, and fast post-operative rehabilitation. How to relieve lower back pain while sleeping? Contact us today!
