Sleep and Back Pain

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Sleep Back Pain

• Dr Gaurav Jain
• 9111464959
• https//www.drgauravjain.com

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Why Back Pains?

• With the advent of new technologies, the
  lifestyle of we humans are completely changed.
• We are now spending more time on desktops than on
  the field.
• This has come with many health issues and back
  pain is one of them. 

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• Evolutionarily,
• humans gave up walking on four legs, so as to get
  more work done with hands,
• the whole grunt of this came to the spine.
• Various adaptations made our spine more
  susceptible to injuries and fatigue.
• Biomechanically, Any deviation to the Ideal
  posture leads to disastrous implications.

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• This is why back pain is the leading cause of
  comorbidities throughout the world these days.
• Though there are several other factors for back
  pain, muscle weakness is the most common and
  leading cause.

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• That is why ergometric posture, work office
  designs are being more and more recommended these
  days.

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• Sleep and pain are intricately related as they
  share similar pathways and neurotransmitters.
• Recent shreds of evidence state that the effect
  of sleep on pain is much more profound than the
  effect of pain on sleep.
• Sleep deprivation definitely has a drastic effect
  on pain sensitivity.
• Many studies have shown that females are more
  sensitive to pain than males and young people
  have more pliability than elderly populations. 

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Key 1 Improve Sleep Posture

• As we know, our back pains because of the
  excessive stress that we lay over it throughout
  the day, at night it's time to relieve the
  muscles and make them recover.
• Hence how we sleep makes a hell lot of a
  difference.
• Scientific literature is full of such
  recommendations.

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Sleeping on sides 

• Never sleep with your legs stretched.
• Try to flex them i.e bring knees towards your
  chest, in order to distrain the back muscles.
• You can use a pillow in between your thigh, so as
  to exaggerate the effect.

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Sleeping on back

• As it is important to sit and stand with
  maintained normal spine curvature, it is equally
  important to maintain this curvature, even when
  you are asleep. 
• We need to flex the knee while we sleep. We can
  put a pillow below the knees or simply put a
  rolled towel so as to ease the muscles.

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Sleeping prone

• This is not recommended. This causes excessive
  strain on back muscles, ultimately leading to
  exacerbation of back pain.
• If you can't sleep in any other position, then
  it's better to take all the strain off the back
  by placing a pillow under the abdomen.

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Key 2 Improve mattress

• This is very controversial.
• Doctors recommend sleeping on a Firm mattress,
  But it's often found that patients back pain tend
  to increase after doing this.
• Similarly, there are recommendations that take
  your hip and waist into consideration.
• Soft mattress If Hips are wider than waist
• Hard mattress If the Waist is wider than the
  hips.

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• But it finally comes down to How you feel
  comfortable with ?. Hence it depends on body
  type to body type to go for a hard or soft
  mattress. The thing that works for you might not
  be equally effective to others. But make sure
  that your mattress is not worn out or depressed
  in the centre. If it's a cotton mattress consider
  changing it every 2-3 years, as the cotton tends
  to get dispersed towards the periphery in due
  course of time.
• We need to follow one simple concept that is to
  maintain the spine in an ideal posture.

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Key 3 Bed Habits and not Bad Habits

• Avoid Screen 2 hrs prior to going to sleep.
• Try to read before going to sleep.
• Room colour must be timid and not bright.
• It's always better to sleep with mild night
  lamplight.
• Avoid consuming High-calorie foods just before
  going to sleep. Avoid caffeine. Take Milk.
• Mild Stretching /Yoga is helpful.
• A Short walk in the evening is beneficial. But
  avoid heavy exercises.

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• Sleeping Aids Under Medical Supervision
• Herbal preparations Valerian capsules and
  chamomile tea
• Fruit extracts Cherry juice or capsules of tart
  cherry extract
• Micronutrient supplements Zinc and/or magnesium
• Synthetic preparations Melatonin capsules or
  tablets
• Get in and out of bed gently. Don't make any
  jerky movements.
• Regularly Do CORE exercises.
• Develop a bedtime routine.

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Key 4 Don't Give up

• In order to get good night sleep, it's essential
  to get rid of back pain, but it's not always the
  case.
• There are various other factors that can cause
  pain, such as anxiety and stress and you should
  get medical help for it.

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Contact Dr Gaurav Jain

• 20 B Sainath Colony , Indore
• 9111464959
• gaurav.medico_at_gmail.com
• https//www.drgauravjain.com