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How to lie down without back pain. Healthy back: how to lie and sleep correctly

Sleeping positions

Many people's favorite position is to sleep on their side. This position is more favorable than others for the spine, but it also has its own characteristics.

When viewed from the front or back, the spinal column should appear as a straight line. This is not true when sleeping on your side. The spine curves in the cervical and lumbar region downwards towards the bed.

But it's easy to fix. You just need to choose the right pillow for your head (the best option is an orthopedic one) and put another one between your knees. A supportive pillow in the legs will help prevent pelvic twisting and lower back strain.

Sleeping on your back causes tension in your lower back and neck, so the muscles in your upper and lower back may ache when you wake up. To avoid this, you should place a pillow under your feet. This relieves tension from the lumbar region.

It is better to place a small soft pillow under your head, ideally an orthopedic one. The use of pillows creates the correct curve of the spine and an even load on it.

Sleeping on your stomach is the most unfavorable. An unnatural bend in the lower back and turning the head lead to muscle strain, and then to back pain.

To minimize the load on the spine while sleeping on your stomach, you can not put a pillow under your head or take a flat one. A thin pillow should be placed under the hips and stomach.

Martats and pillow

As mentioned above, it is best to use an orthopedic pillow. It is advisable to avoid large pillows, because... they create an unnatural curve in the spine.

The mattress should not be too hard, but not soft either. Orthopedic is the most suitable option. It takes the anatomical shape of the body's curves, while the back muscles relax and fully rest.

Additional Tips

Pain in the back muscles can occur when you sleep too long - more than 8-9 hours. But you should not sleep less than 7 hours.

Getting out of bed after sleep should not be done abruptly, avoiding twisting of the spine.

How to sleep properly with back pain. Where to sleep?Can’t remember a time when your back didn’t hurt? Then it's time to throw away the bed and mattress, especially if you have feather beds or cotton mattresses. They are the ones who do not give the lower back proper rest. You need to start with the fact that the sleeping place should be a rigid structure with a strong orthopedic base. Attention: if pain in the lumbar region is caused by problems with the spine itself, then under the mattress there should be a dense wooden “shield” with special springs/blocks. Ask your loved ones to conduct a small observation: lie on the bed; it should not have a arch in the lower back. Ideally, the sleeping area should take the shape of the curves of the spine.1. The mattress should be comfortable, i.e. the person on it should not feel any discomfort. Comfort is convenience! Lack of comfort during sleep leads to lack of sleep, which disrupts all body functions. Our body, due to its biological structure, is not able to adapt to sleep deficiency. People need different amounts of sleep - some people need a few hours of sleep, others feel terrible if they don't sleep for ten hours. Many clinical studies suggest that sleeping less than 6 hours leads to an increased risk of morbidity and death. Most people need 7-9 hours of sleep every day to allow the spinal muscles to relax, the intervertebral discs to fill with fluid, and the vertebrae to move apart. When we wake up in the morning, we will have a reserve of 2-3 cm of height, due to the enlarged intervertebral discs, and we will trample and “sit” it during the day. Try to remember your life, and it will probably include several nights spent on an uncomfortable strange bed, a carriage rack, and a tent pad. Now it’s clear why we always put bed comfort first, because in a comfortable bed we sleep long and peacefully and feel rested and productive all day long! 2. The mattress must be hygienic, i.e. do not have any unpleasant odors and do not cause allergic reactions upon contact with the human body, do not have the possibility of the establishment and reproduction of various insects and other harmful organisms. During its service, various hazardous substances accumulate in the mattress. One study even claims that mattress-dwelling bacteria causes sudden death syndrome in children. An adult bedbug can live without food for up to one year. Well, how can you not talk about the advantage of modern materials in which bedbugs have not yet learned to live. And the smell! This is why the average recommended lifespan of a mattress is 8-10 years. How old is your mattress? 3. The mattress must be anatomical, i.e. follow the contours of the person on it. There is an opinion about the need for a hard bed and its benefits for the spine. I think this opinion appeared with the first armored beds. Inconvenient, especially if your back hurts. So people, out of old memory, began to put boards and shields under the armored mesh. The old memory is that they used to sleep on wooden floors, but they forget that there should be a mattress on top. A straw or down mattress, as appropriate, designed to fill the anatomical curves of your body. Sometimes they cite the example of a thin felt bedding used for sleeping in the East, but they forget that a characteristic feature of the bed of an Eastern prince was a large number of pillows, bolsters and pads on which he reclined. The task of anatomy is to ensure the physiological position of all parts of the spine during sleep. At the same time, the spinal muscles relax and rest from a difficult day's work. How this function will be provided: small springs, coconut layers, latex base, it doesn’t really matter. Lie down on the mattress, on your side, and make sure that your lumbar spine is not arched to the side like a bow with a taut bowstring, and that your waist area is supported by the mattress. Usually, this is better provided by a soft mattress, and if you are used to sleeping on your side, choose just such a mattress. Roll over onto your back and make sure that your buttocks press down on the mattress, and that your lumbar deflection does not hang in the air, does not bend in the opposite direction, but is preserved and supported by the mattress. If you are in the habit of sleeping on your back, you will most likely like a medium-hard mattress more. Firmer mattresses are liked by those who like to sleep on their stomach, since such a mattress does not increase the forward deflection of the lumbar region. The ability of a mattress to match the anatomical features of your body is an important condition for rest while sleeping. 4. The mattress must be orthopedic, i.e. be able to properly restore and prevent emerging functional disorders of the human body. Here lies another problem: almost all manufacturers call their mattresses orthopedic, although, in fact, they are anatomical. The anatomical task will ensure physiological comfort during sleep, and the orthopedic task will ensure the healing process during sleep. Using soft and at the same time highly elastic modern materials, you can get a “tool” that provides this function. Products, mattresses, pillows and special coverings created on the basis of new technologies fully provide soft, plastic traction of the spine. According to the manufacturers, blood stagnation stops, spasmed muscles relax, and nerve endings stop being compressed. So, my opinion. Sleeping on a mattress that matches your anatomical characteristics (not on a hard one, but on a non-sagging base), most often it is comfortable, preferably with a therapeutic function. The easiest way is to create a healing function of plastic traction. In what position to sleep? For healthy sleep you need to take the right posture. Experts advise sleeping on your back with your legs slightly bent. There should be an orthopedic pillow under the head and neck, and the shoulders and back should be directly on the mattress. It is necessary to bend your legs based on the following considerations: when a person stretches his lower limbs, the tendons of his hips and buttocks are stretched, which can increase lower back pain. You can place a cushion or small pillow under your knees. Having taken this position, you immediately feel a decrease in pain in the lumbar region and relaxation. Another great pose is the so-called fetal position: you need to lie on your side, pull your hips towards your stomach, while your back arches. You can place a pillow between your legs to prevent your hips from rotating and putting strain on your lower back. If you are used to sleeping on your stomach, then you need to place, again, a small pillow or bolster under your groin and pelvis so that your lower back does not move forward or arch excessively. This can also relieve pain and tension in the ligaments. In some cases, the pain can be reduced by pulling the lower back tightly with a towel and forming a knot in the front immediately before bed; this will keep the muscles and ligaments immobilized and also reduce pain. How to get out of bed? The lower back hurts, sleeping in the correct position is only 50% of success. In the morning you also need to get up correctly so that there is no sharp pain. First, you need to warm up: do preparatory exercises - bend and straighten your arms, then your legs to stretch them thoroughly. Then you need to smoothly roll onto your stomach if you slept on your back, then place one foot on the floor on your knee. After this, you need to carefully transfer your body weight to the supporting legs and arms. You need to get up slowly, without sudden movements.

Healthy sleep is important for a person’s well-being and normal performance, this is clear to everyone. But it is very difficult to sleep well when your lower back hurts. The causes of pain can be different: intense training takes its toll, or there may be a wind. What if pain is a wake-up call from the spine?

What causes lower back pain?

The reasons can be different, and their establishment should only be done by a qualified medical specialist - an orthopedic doctor or an osteopath. First of all, all pain can be divided into two groups. The first includes the so-called primary pain, which appears due to skeletal or muscular pathologies of the spinal column.

These include osteochondrosis, degenerative lesions of the cartilage and bones of the spine, spondyloarthrosis - damage to the intervertebral joints.
Anything other than this is included in the group of secondary pains - in this case, the pain does not arise from the vertebrae, but from the tissues around the lumbar region.

These are scoliotic deformities of the spine, tuberculosis, osteomyelitis, osteoporosis and softening of bones, arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, tumors in the paravertebral space, fractures of various types, disorders of spinal blood flow, diseases of the pelvis and intestines (in this case, the pain is of a reflected nature).

In addition, many other diseases may have low back pain as one of their symptomatic features.

Where to sleep?

Can't remember a time when your back didn't hurt? Then it's time to throw away the bed and mattress, especially if you have feather beds or cotton mattresses. They are the ones who do not give the lower back proper rest.

You need to start with the fact that the sleeping place should be a rigid structure with a strong orthopedic base. Attention: if pain in the lumbar region is caused by problems with the spine itself, then under the mattress there should be a dense wooden “shield” with special springs/blocks. Ask your loved ones to conduct a small observation: lie on the bed; it should not have a arch in the lower back. Ideally, the sleeping area should take the shape of the curves of the spine.

A less labor-intensive alternative would be a water mattress without waves, with density regulation. The pressure on the body on such a mattress is distributed equally, which allows you to sleep all night in one position.

In what position to sleep?

For healthy sleep you need to take the right posture. Experts advise sleeping on your back with your legs slightly bent. There should be an orthopedic pillow under the head and neck, and the shoulders and back should be directly on the mattress. It is necessary to bend your legs based on the following considerations: when a person stretches his lower limbs, the tendons of his hips and buttocks are stretched, which can increase lower back pain. You can place a cushion or small pillow under your knees. Having taken this position, you immediately feel a decrease in pain in the lumbar region and relaxation.

Another great pose is the so-called fetal position: you need to lie on your side, pull your hips towards your stomach, while your back arches. You can place a pillow between your legs to prevent your hips from rotating and putting strain on your lower back.

If you are used to sleeping on your stomach, then you need to place, again, a small pillow or bolster under your groin and pelvis so that your lower back does not move forward or arch excessively. This can also relieve pain and tension in the ligaments.

In some cases, the pain can be reduced by pulling the lower back tightly with a towel and forming a knot in the front immediately before bed; this will keep the muscles and ligaments immobilized and also reduce pain.

How to get out of bed?

The lower back hurts, sleeping in the correct position is only 50% of success. In the morning you also need to get up correctly so that there is no sharp pain. First, you need to warm up: do preparatory exercises - bend and straighten your arms, then your legs to stretch them thoroughly. Then you need to smoothly roll onto your stomach if you slept on your back, then place one foot on the floor on your knee. After this, you need to carefully transfer your body weight to the supporting legs and arms. You need to get up slowly, without sudden movements.

Of course, you don’t need to endure pain; you need to see a rheumatologist or osteopath, who will prescribe the required treatment, medications, and other things.

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Back pain, heartburn, premature wrinkles and other discomforts could be avoided by adopting an optimal sleeping position. Here is a convenient guide to action, developed by leading experts.

Back pain

If you tend to sleep in the wrong position, then for 8 hours every night your spine suffers from deformation. In its natural position, the main part of the skeleton is somewhat curved. Therefore, to reduce pain, experts recommend sleeping on your back or side with your legs bent. Stretching your legs into a string is not recommended, as this increases the tension on the thigh tendons. It is recommended to place a small pillow under your knees. "This strategic placement relieves tension in the lower back," says Jeffrey Goldstein, MD, chief of orthopedic surgery at New York University.

Shoulder pain

If you are experiencing shoulder pain, sleeping on your side may provide some relief, but at night you risk putting additional pressure on the painful area. Some modern mattresses relieve pressure on the joints of the shoulders and hips. But if you sleep on a hard or hard bed, you experience discomfort that causes you to involuntarily change your position while you sleep. Experts recommend falling asleep on your back or stomach, this way you can prevent restless sleep.

Hip pain

Discomfort in the hips after vigorous physical activity can be relieved by lying on your back. This pose straightens the curve of the spine, thereby relieving pressure from the problem area. If you don't want to make the situation worse, try to lie down in a way that won't cause pain even during REM sleep.

Neck pain

Neck discomfort is very common due to a sedentary lifestyle, as well as among those who cannot imagine their lives without cell phones. Choosing the right pillows can help ease discomfort during the night. In the optimal position, the head is fixed in such a way as to relieve pressure from the neck. You will have to find a comfortable pillow height through trial and error, while making sure that you do not strain your neck. Thick down pillows are not suitable for you, and you should also not place a pyramid of bedding under your head. Dr. Goldstein points out that many people get overzealous in trying to find their optimal height.

Pain in the knee

This condition is familiar to all fans of squats with a barbell or fans of walking long distances. Excessive stress on the knees makes itself felt. But sometimes the pain occurs right in a dream, when the legs touch each other. Our expert today recommends placing a pillow between your legs or holding a blanket between your knees. You will also need to consider options to reduce the stress on your knee joints during physical activity.

Snore

Snoring may occur in one partner, but it interferes with sleep for both. If your spouse constantly complains or goes to sleep in another room, it may be in your best interest to adopt a proper sleep position. When you lie on your back, gravity pushes air back into your airways, causing a low-frequency rattling sound when you inhale.

This phenomenon is not typical for all people, but only for those who are susceptible to obesity, and also have a deviated nasal septum or an elongated uvula. Enlarged tonsils and adenoids in the nose can also cause snoring. To save yourself and your loved ones from unpleasant sounds, you need to place two or three pillows under your head while sleeping. Thus, the air flow in the respiratory tract will be less obstructed. If this technique does not help, traditional anti-snoring remedies can help you out, which should be taken after consulting a doctor.

Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ)

Some people suffer from temporomandibular joint dysfunction or have other types of jaw pain. If you have these problems, experts recommend not pressing your cheek against the pillow, keeping your face free from contact with the bedding. “Avoid putting additional pressure on the facial joints and jaws, which will make the pain worse,” says Anna Paula Ferraz-Dougherty, spokeswoman for the American Dental Association.

Sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome develops due to regular teeth grinding or snoring. In this case, when a person sleeps, his upper respiratory tract is partially or completely blocked. This causes him to remain unconscious for several seconds before getting a breath of air. Termination of pulmonary ventilation (apnea) occurs in the supine position due to the retraction of the tongue inward. As with snoring, experts don't recommend sleep apnea sufferers sleep on their backs. You must choose any other comfortable position.

Heartburn and acid reflux

When the lower esophageal sphincter, or stomach valve, is relaxed enough, it allows acid to rise up and cause a characteristic burning sensation called acid reflux. This condition goes hand in hand with heartburn, and if you want to make it easier to fall asleep and eliminate unpleasant symptoms after dinner, choose the right position while sleeping. Scientific studies have shown that sleeping on your left side reduces the symptoms of heartburn. Scientists believe that this body position prevents the gastric valve from opening easily.

Former president of the American College of Gastroenterology, Professor David Johnson, MD, advises patients suffering from heartburn to use gravity to their advantage. Keep your upper body elevated so that gravity helps increase pressure on your stomach. To do this, choose a pillow with a thickness of 20 to 25 centimeters (or several flat pillows stacked on top of each other).

Wrinkles

Zakiya Rahman, MD, professor of dermatology at Stanford University, advises women fighting aging skin not to sleep on the same side. When your cheek comes into contact with the pillow, the pressure creates wrinkles. Visually, the expert can easily determine which side a particular person prefers to sleep on. To avoid the undesirable effect of aging on one part of the face, it is necessary to alternate the position when falling asleep. Professor Rahman recommends sleeping on your back, where your face is not in contact with the pillow and does not create friction. Unfortunately, this advice does not apply to all people. Therefore, if you have back problems, make sure that every other day you fall asleep alternately on your right and left side.

Acne

Did you know that pillowcases and bedding can absorb oil from the pores on your face? This increases the number of acne in those with oily and problematic skin. If you wash your bed linen once a week, you can sleep without worrying about the consequences, but if you change your pillowcases less often, experts recommend not touching your face to the linen. The optimal way to sleep if you have acne is to lie on your back. This way, germs that have multiplied on your pillow over the course of a week will not be able to penetrate your pores. Can't sleep on your back? Then you will have to take care of changing your bed linen more often.

A person spends a third of the day in bed, so it should be comfortable, and its design should correspond to the physiological curves of the spinal column. This is achieved by placing a soft mattress on a flat base. It is also important to follow the rule of matching the person’s body weight and the thickness of the mattress. So, a bed with a relatively hard mattress will suit an obese person, while a person with a graceful physique will need a softer one. If preference is given to foam rubber, then an overweight person should choose a thicker mattress so that the bed does not turn out to be too hard.

Recently, so-called “orthopedic mattresses” have become widespread, which have an excellent effect. A person resting on such a mattress retains all the physiological curves of the spine, which guarantees good rest and healthy sleep. It is most effective to use an orthopedic mattress together with an orthopedic pillow.

Rules for healthy sleep

THE MAIN RULE OF SLEEPING is that the line of the neck should be parallel to the line of the bed. In this position, there is no threat of compression of the arteries supplying blood to the brain. A pillow is used for this.

Sleeping on a very high or very low pillow, or without a pillow, leads not only to disruption of the blood supply to the brain, but also to the fact that the joint capsules of the vertebrae are stretched, causing a person to experience severe neck pain.

For healthy sleep, you need to use only the right pillows:

Orthopedic pillow holds the neck in the correct position, and also has a special ear hole, which allows you to hear the TV well.
You can sleep properly on a regular pillow. An elongated pillow is more suitable for this. If you are lying on your back, your shoulders should not lie on the pillow, only the back of your head rests on it, and the ends of the pillow are straightened above your shoulders. You can also lie on your side. To do this, you need to roll up the pillow and place it under your neck.

Not recommended: Sleep on a very high pillow, on a very low pillow, or without a pillow. This leads not only to disruption of the blood supply to the brain, but also to the fact that the joint capsules of the vertebrae are stretched. They become inflamed and experience severe pain.

A position in which to sleep is extremely not recommended:

An adult should not sleep on his stomach. When we sleep on our stomachs, quickly turning our heads to the left or right, the blood supply to the vertebral arteries is disrupted and there is a risk of stroke.

Recommendations: It is very comfortable to sleep on your side with a straight leg, and place the other leg, bent at the knee, on the bed. In this case, place the hand on which you will sleep under the pillow, and the other hand can be placed on the body or on the bed.

This pose (see picture) is suitable for most people suffering from spinal pain (back pain). In this case, it is better to lie on the sore side - in this case, the intervertebral gaps increase, and the roots of the spinal nerves are not so much compressed (irritated).

It can be difficult to get out of bed without causing yourself pain during the acute period. You can, however, make this procedure easier: lying on your stomach, move to the edge of the bed and carefully lower your legs to the floor, and then, using your hands, rise from the bed and sit as close to the edge as possible. You should stand up without bending your upper body too much forward.