How to sleep on your side without causing pain

Sleeping on your side is a good position to sleep in. If done properly you can sleep in a position that keeps your body in a neutral position and will allow you to sleep without causing your body pain or dysfunction. Here are some tips to help you sleep comfortably on your side.

Sleep on the point of your hip and shoulder

By sleeping on the point of your hip and shoulder, you can keep your spine in a neutral position which will help prevent pain in your spine. Whilst you generally can’t sleep right on the point of your shoulder comfortably, you need to try not to rotate your body to sleep more on the back of your shoulder. Doing this causes rotation through the upper back and neck and puts a lot of stress on the ribs.

Pillow height

To be as comfortable as possible and as much on the point of your shoulder as possible you need to have the right pillow. Your pillow needs to support your head and neck, it therefore needs to be thick enough when you’re lying on it so it’s close to the same distance from the point of your shoulder to your neck. If the pillow isn’t thick enough your head will fall into the pillow causing your neck to be bent to the side. Also if the pillow isn’t thick enough, you’ll have to rotate your shoulder through to have your neck supported, this is also not good as mentioned above. If the pillow is too thick, this will push your head and neck up towards the ceiling, thus your neck will be bent to the side. For all the above reasons, you need the proper support from the pillow when sleeping on your side to avoid pain.

Keep your spine neutral

Keeping your body in a neutral position is the best way to avoid pain from sleeping. To do this you need to remember the above points of, sleeping on the points of your hip and shoulder and having the right pillow height. On top of that though, there are a few more things to do to keep your spine neutral. Firstly, try to keep your knees and ankles stacked one on top of the other. If your top knee is in front or behind the other, this will cause your spine to be rotated. If you have one leg out straight and one bent it will cause a rotation through your pelvis. Any variation of the above can lead to pain in the lower back or pelvis. Secondly you need to try to keep your arms in a good position. If you have one arm up to have your arm under your pillow or your top arm behind or outstretched in front of you, this can all lead to rotations in the spine which can lead to pain.