During the night, sleep is disturbed because you can't sleep due to neck pain? Cervical sprain: How to sleep?
The cervical area, being the most mobile part of our spine, is also the most prone to pain at rest or upon waking : this happens because maintaining a incorrect position for a long time puts tension on the various muscle and joint structures, generating misalignment.
Even the headache on waking is often linked to a sleep disorder related to a cervical problem generating a headache
Cervical sprain: How to sleep with simple actions
When you experience neck pain , this alarm bell should make you realize that the problem is not so much the pillow / mattress but that there is a problem of muscular and vertebral stiffness.
Bad posture during the day, perhaps in front of a monitor or bent over books, can create muscular alterations that affect the postural structure of the different vertebrae of the neck, which if they maintain abnormal positions for a long time during sleep , cause pain and stiffness. The use of certain tools to maintain a correct position during work helps not only with night rest, but also with the health of poor overloaded vertebrae.
At the biomechanical level, however, it is also important to make a distinction and clarify : what seems more comfortable for us to sleep does not always correspond to being more correct. Here's what to avoid and do:
- pillow too high: despite greater support, the cervical area is raised compared to the rest of the vertebral axis. This involves stretching the muscles in the lower part and shortening the raised part. Additionally, this position can also cause misalignment with consequent pain in the facet joints.
- Cushion too low: when the cushion is positioned lower than the axis of the vertebrae, it generates the opposite mechanism, where the neck maintains a "tilted" position for several hours with crushing of the intervertebral disc and formation of a hernia or protrusion.
- Proper cushion: the correct position of the neck must be horizontal: the perception that the person must have is that of having the cervical area neither too high nor too low; the pillow must support and adapt to the weight of the head.
- Memory foam pillow, a particular material that adapts to the body without creating tension and counter-resistance towards the neck.
What sleeping positions to choose?
Talking about the positions in bed to take for neck pain is quite problematic: during the night, many people are unlikely to stay in the position in which they fall asleep, because they tend to move and change attitude.
The worst position to adopt during the night is certainly the position on the stomach.: In this position the neck is completely turned for several hours: scientific studies have shown that during the cervical rotation until the end of the movement (therefore in the lying position) they apply a great force cutting both the vertebral structures and the blood vessels.
It is rather advisable to sleep on the side or in dorsal decubitus (belly upwards), the important thing is the good positioning of the head on the pillow, which we will see in the next paragraph.
How to place the pillow?
Correct positioning of the cushion prevents the cervical vertebrae from suffering from shear forces
Sleeping and spending many hours lying down with improper cervical support is counterproductive, even if you choose the best pillow in the world; for this reason, it is important to understand some concepts about positioning on the pillow.
In the evening, in addition to the precautions we have already mentioned on the positions to avoid, it is good to remember that not only the head, but the head and the neck, must be placed on the pillow, up to the level of the shoulders. Indeed, if the neck is positioned as the only contact, the deep muscles of the neck at the level of the upper cervical spine are however put under tension (we speak of sub-occipital muscles) which could therefore resist stretching for several hours. .
It is therefore good to understand that the pillow must be positioned correctly and the support must be over the entire head and neck, up to the shoulder area: in this way, the neck is well supported et the muscles can really rest , stay in a position they like and not suffer.
Which mattress to choose?
Although the cervical area is positioned on the pillow, the remaining part of the body also deserves special attention: if the mattress provides the body during rest with incorrect support, the other parts of the body will also begin to suffer from rigidity (this So is the mattress that generates stiffness or the stiffness that creates problems while sleeping with the mattress?).
See to change the orientation of the mattress at least once a month , to allow a change of cushioning of the material relative to the body. However, if you have noticed that the back pain has become unbearable, it may be worth considering buying a new mattress.
Here too, the choice falls on the memory foam material, whose technology accommodates the body of the one who is resting without creating counter-pushes.
Pain on waking and physiotherapy
If your waking up or your nocturnal pains are now so problematic and muscle stiffness makes you impatient, it is good to think about making a visit to physiotherapy.
A correct framing of the problem is fundamental: what is good for one person is not good for another.
FUNDAMENTAL : rely on expert hands and authorized hands (physiotherapy), avoiding masseurs, saints or pranotherapists who have neither the skills nor the authorizations to be able to treat certain types of problems.
After the assessment, the physiotherapist can make different choices to solve the problem. In fact, there are many very valid and scientifically approved diagnostic tests that allow us to properly frame the origin of the problem, thus promoting a faster resolution of the disorder.
Some high-speed, low-amplitude manipulations: these maneuvers are painless and effectively restore correct positioning, also favoring an interruption of the painful whiplash signal
If, on the other hand, the problem concerns certain muscles that remain contracted and release pain, it can also be useful to approach these soft tissues by mechanical fibrolysis: this type of therapeutic approach uses very comfortable hooks for the patient, allowing muscle release inside the muscle fibers and immediately freeing the patient from pain.
Cervical sprain: How to sleep? You now have all the keys in hand!
