Back pain is a painful experience for many people. According to medical statistics, about 80% of people have severe back pain at least once in their lives, and the number of people seeking medical attention for back pain is second only to the flu, with the majority of patients being middle-aged and elderly, but it is not uncommon for young people aged one to twenty to have back pain. Patients are often troubled by the recurrence of back pain, and in addition to improper posture and force during the day, another common cause of back pain is “poor sleeping posture”.
Normal spine is S-shaped curve, wrong sleeping posture may harm spinal health
When the human body is upright, from the side, the ears, shoulders and pelvis should be on the same line, while the internal spine has an S-shaped curve, that is, the cervical and lumbar vertebrae are slightly convex, while the thoracic vertebrae are slightly curved back; if the posture is incorrect for a long time, it may cause improper compression of the intervertebral discs, resulting in deformation, degeneration or slipped vertebrae, and even compression of the nerve roots, resulting in various symptoms such as back pain, numbness and pain, or poor mobility.
In particular, patients who originally had lower back pain or sciatica, disc herniation, spinal stenosis or vertebral slippage, cervical joint degeneration and other diseases should pay extra attention to sleep posture during rehabilitation, and even for patients who have recovered or normal people, they should maintain good sleep posture to avoid unknowingly harming the health of the spine in their sleep.
Use the pillow well, any sleeping position is suitable for everyone
What is the most ideal sleeping position? Lie on your back or side, but pay attention to the sleep should be as much as possible to make the spine in a natural relaxed state.
In the case of lying on one’s back, the best sleeping position is to maintain the aforementioned S-shaped curve of the body’s spine from the side after lying flat. In addition to the head being slightly padded with a pillow, a hard pillow should be placed under the knee (or calf if the knee arthritis patient is uncomfortable) to allow the lower back to rest easily on the mattress to help relieve the pressure on the back and allow the lumbar spine to show a slight forward bending angle.
If you prefer to lie on your side, it is recommended that you can adopt a slightly bent, front and back posture with a pillow between your feet to improve comfort. Since the human heart is located in the left chest, it is generally recommended to sleep on the right side to relatively reduce the burden on the heart. However, patients with sciatica caused by a herniated disc are advised to sleep on the normal side during an attack, which means that the foot with the obvious pain is in a high position (above the normal foot, separated by a pillow), so as to reduce muscle straightening on the affected side and reduce pain.
Sleeping on the stomach can easily cause the pillow, degenerative arthritis patients fear more serious
There are many people who sleep on their stomachs since childhood, but when sleeping on their stomachs, the head is often 90 degrees to the left or right, and the fixed posture is too long, so it is easy to cause the pillow phenomenon, which is generally not recommended. Especially for patients with degenerative arthritis in the cervical spine, fixed cervical posture for too long, poor joint circulation, especially not suitable.
However, for some young patients with herniated discs, during the acute attack period, in order to prevent the nerves around the spine from bearing too much pressure on the body during sleep, you can temporarily adopt the sleeping position on your stomach to relieve the pressure on the cartilage, and then change to sleeping on your back or side after the acute period.
Pillow, mattress so choose the right
In the choice of bedding, do not use high pillows, and do not use no pillow at all. Because the human body lying down, the head against the pillow, the back flat against the mattress, if the pillow is too high, then the cervical spine connecting the head and back will appear suspended state, in the absence of proper support, easy to appear pillow or neck discomfort, the more sleep more difficult phenomenon.
The ideal pillow should be sunken, the depth of the middle of the pillow can accommodate the back of the head, and the edge of the projection can fill the neck groove, but still maintain the cervical spine at the correct angle, stable support for the cervical spine, so that the neck and upper back completely relaxed.
The softness of the mattress should also be noted, too soft mattress lacks support, once lying down the whole body into, the correct angle of the spine can not be maintained, joint stress increases, the back muscles will be in a tense and hard condition all night long and too hard mattress, lying on it, the shoulder blades, buttocks, ankles and hip joints and other parts will be “hard to touch” with the bed board, the muscles can not really relax, it is difficult to sleep comfortably and freely.
It is generally recommended that the mattress for daily use should be the most appropriate softness equivalent to a wooden bed plus two layers of thick quilts, and if you want to purchase a spring bed, you should press down with your hands to present a depression of about 5 centimeters, so that the softness is relatively helpful to the relaxation of the muscles near the cartilage joints of the spine and the support of the limbs when lying down, as well as to facilitate the recovery of the symptoms of minor intervertebral cartilage protrusion.
In the acute stage, medication should be used to relieve the inflammatory symptoms. Maintaining correct posture on a daily basis helps recovery.
The onset of back pain should not be taken lightly and medical assistance should be sought as soon as possible. Except for a few patients with adverse reactions (such as patients with acute gastric ulcers), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants prescribed during the acute phase can help control inflammatory reactions and relieve the discomfort of low back pain to speed up recovery.
This will not only be ineffective, but also prolong unnecessary medication treatment. After the first stage of treatment, the symptoms of acute inflammation and pain gradually resolve, and then follow the instructions of the rehabilitation doctor, engage in some stretching and muscle strengthening exercises, and pay attention to maintaining correct posture in daily activities, which will help to recover as soon as possible.
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