Difficulty sleeping comfortably is one of the main complaints for individuals with shoulder pain. This is especially true for those people who are side sleepers. Most who suffer report trying all kinds of ways to sleep better but just haven’t found the ticket yet.
Sleep is an important part of the healing process so an inability to sleep is not.
Below are a few tips that are commonly helpful for those suffering with shoulder pain trying to sleep at night.
- Try sleeping on the non-painful side. Typically a shoulder that is sore does not like to be slept on. A big reason is compression. When we sleep on a shoulder, whether or not it is painful, it results in compression of the muscles and bloodflow to that shoulder. Eventually the pressure builds to a point that will wake a person to re-adjust position. Another reason sleeping on the side does not work is simply lack of motion of the sore shoulder. Forcing the arm in that position just isn’t possible for some to tolerate.
- Place a pillow under the painful arm. This will open up the shoulder joint and put it in a more “rested” position. Also this will improve bloodflow which is helpful for healing the sore shoulder. Worst case scenario, you end up tossing the pillow on the floor.
- For those unable to stop themselves from rolling on the sore shoulder at night, try blocking yourself from rolling over. Put a pillow or row of pillows behind you such that it limits your ability to roll back over onto the sore shoulder.
No one enjoys a night without sleep due to some body part aching. For those with shoulder pain, give these tips a try and see if they work for you.
If they don’t work for you or you have other questions about your shoulder and how to speed its healing, fill out this quick FORM to request a personal phone call from Andrew about how to overcome that shoulder pain.