Is Sleeping on Your Stomach That Bad?
By Sara Butler
If you were to stroll into The Joint Chiropractic and ask the chiropractor if sleeping on your stomach was really as bad as you’ve heard, they’d give you a definitive yes! The position you sleep in can have a big impact on your spine and can cause pain or other health conditions that will only get worse as time goes on. Here are a few of the ways stomach sleeping can hurt your spine and how your chiropractor can help.
Headaches
Sleeping on your stomach may be one of the only comfortable positions you can fall asleep in, but when you do it night after night, it forces your neck into prolonged periods of rotation, which can lead to joint dysfunction and restriction over time. These dysfunctions and restrictions can place stress and strain on the discs in your neck and the surrounding soft tissues, leading to chronic headaches. The fact of the matter is that the sooner you can break the habit of sleeping on your stomach, the sooner you can work with your chiropractor to correct these dysfunctions and restrictions which can lead to getting rid of your headaches.
Sciatica and Other Nerve Irritation
Your leg position is also a factor when it comes to sleeping on your stomach. While some people sleep with both legs straight, most people tend to hike one leg up. This creates an imbalance in the hips, which has an impact on the lower spine as well. This can lead to symptoms in your lower back and hips, such as sciatic pain.
Arthritis
Stomach sleeping puts a lot of pressure on your lower spine, a pressure that can eventually result in bone spurs, hardening of the discs in the spine, and even changes in your vertebrae in order to try to balance the levels of stress placed upon the structures in your lower back. Degenerative changes such as these can cause problems with arthritis down the road.
Sleeping on your stomach is a habit that you should work to break with the assistance from chiropractors at The Joint. It can have consequences for your health and wellness in the future, so act before the damage has been done. You may find that changing your sleeping position habits results in the best night’s sleep of your life!
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Columbia, S.C.