There are many benefits to side sleeping, particularly if you’re prone to snoring or sleep apnea. Your spine is in a neutral position and sleeping on your side minimizes acid reflux. However, you may become susceptible to shoulder pain and tension.
We’re ready to help at Active Care Chiropractic & Rehabilitation in Lafayette Hill, the Main Line, East Falls, Elkins Park, Manayunk and Hatfield, Pennsylvania. The most flexible joint in the body, the shoulder is also complex, relying on a network of soft tissue to maintain its stability.
Side sleeping may contribute to shoulder pain due to the long duration of time you can spend on a shoulder. It can be enough to cause or complicate rotator cuff damage.
Formed from four muscles and their tendons, the rotator cuff holds the shoulder together since the sockets of the joint are shallow, allowing for the remarkable range of movement at the cost of the natural stability offered by deeper ball-and-socket joints like the hips. The rotator cuff also assists the motion of your arm through its complex range, delivering precision and strength.
While shoulder pain is often attributed to side sleeping, it’s probably not the primary cause. Instead, it’s more likely that side sleeping aggravates an existing injury.
Surprisingly, there’s little research on the connection between shoulder pain and side sleeping, even though it’s obvious that sleeping on your side transfers much of the weight of your upper body to the shoulder.
Instead, it’s most likely that the weight of side sleeping aggravates an existing shoulder problem, interfering with the natural healing process by adding pressure. Let’s look at some of the problems that affect the shoulder and rotator cuff.
An injury to the rotator cuff can cause tendinitis, an inflammation that creates pain by pressing on nerves and other structures in the shoulder. You may also suffer complete or partial tears of tendons. Depending on the nature of your rotator cuff disorder, you may or may not have pain throughout the day.
A bursa is a fluid-filled sac that aids the movement of some of your body joints, including the shoulder. When a shoulder bursa becomes inflamed, it causes swelling and pain, along with potential loss of shoulder mobility. Side sleeping can keep the bursa inflamed.
The most common form of inflammatory joint disease, osteoarthritis starts with the deterioration of the cartilage coverings that allow joints to move with little friction. As cartilage wears away, it can cause painful movement and, once again, sleeping on an affected shoulder causes pressure and pain.
Sleeping comfortably on your side without shoulder pain likely means comprehensive treatment of the underlying cause. Visit us at the nearest of our six locations at Active Care Chiropractic & Rehabilitation. Book your visit online or by phone today.
