Many people are now suffering from neck or shoulder pain, especially for these people who work in the office since they need to sit in front of computer for a long period of time and hold their neck in an abnormal position, which result in muscle tension in the neck and shoulder. Moreover, there are a lot of other causes of neck or shoulder pain, such as awkward sleeping positions, using an inappropriate pillow or other pathological causes.
Suffering from shoulder pain or neck pain can be miserable and lead you to long-term downsides. It can affect your work and study, making it impossible for you to stay focused. What’s worse, with neck or shoulder pain, you can’t sleep well at night, which endangers your health. If you are looking for methods to relieve your neck or shoulder pain at night, this article may help you out. And let’s take a look at these options.
Part 1. Get professional treatment.
Above all, if you are suffering from shoulder or neck pain for a long time and get more and more serious, or your aches are resulted from pathological causes or spinal injury such as sports injuries, falls, or car accidents, the first thing you need to consider is getting professional treatment as soon as possible. It’s the best way to heal from neck or shoulder pain.
Part 2. Replace your mattress and pillow with suitable ones.
There is no doubt that using the right mattress and pillow can help relieve neck and shoulder pain. Setting up your bed to best maintain your spine natural curves can relieve neck or shoulder pain. As cervical pain sufferers, you need to use a firm mattress to support your body so that your back won’t sink in. Pillow is another factor you need to seriously consider. It’s recommended to use a thin pillow which lets you keep your spine in its natural position. Besides, using a cervical pillow can support your head and neck. For example, Zamat cervical pillow, specially shaped with ergonomics, which helps significantly reduce your neck pain. You can simply have a try if you are suffering from neck pain.
Part 3. Adjust your sleeping position.
As we mentioned above, if you were using a wrong sleeping position for a long period of time which leads to your shoulder or neck pain, adjusting your sleeping position can be helpful. Here are sleeping positions you are supposed to try or you need to avoid.
- Try sleeping on your side.
If you are suffering from neck pain, sleeping on your side can be the best way to minimize the pain. Sleeping on your side keeps your head neutral and your chin straight ahead, which can help your cervical spine get enough relaxations to relieve your neck pain while sleeping.
- Avoid sleeping on the affected shoulder.
Of course, if you only have a shoulder pain on one side, you need to avoid sleeping on the affected shoulder. Simply adjust your position to the opposite side, and it will reduce the pressure on the affected shoulder.
- Try sleeping on your back.
As a matter of fact, sleeping on your back not only help relieve neck pain but also your shoulder pain. Sleeping on your back helps maintain spine’s natural curves and take the pressure off your shoulder. It’s recommended to pair a thinner cervical pillow and supportive mattress to help put the spine in a natural and curved position.
- Avoid sleeping on your stomach.
Neck pain sufferers should avoid sleeping on your stomach, you can imagine that your spine will be in an unnatural curved position when you sleeping like that, and it will put more stress on your neck and aggravate the pain.
Part 4. Other considerations
Unfortunately, it’s not easy to recover from a neck pain or shoulder pain quickly. And the muscles in your neck weaken as you getting older. You need to keep exercising your body to recover from the disease gradually and always pay attention to stretching at work and in life. For example, you can start with the following tips:
- Sit and stand with good posture as much as possible.
- Try using a cervical traction neck pillow on trains and other transport if you travel frequently.
- Stretch regularly or take a break from long periods of sitting.
- Put your computer monitor at a suitable height.
- Stop being a smartphone addicts phubber.
Conclusion
Sleeping with shoulder or neck pain is miserable. To relieve the pains, you need to take some measures such as replace your mattress and pillow, meanwhile, some bad habits need to be corrected and avoided. Last but not the least, if you shoulder or neck pain is severe and persistent which cannot be relieved, be sure to see your doctor to get professional treatment.
