Sleeping with Neck Pain: What Are The Best Positions?

Neck pain can be a debilitating condition that affects various aspects of a person's life, including their sleep quality. It is often caused by a variety of factors such as poor posture, stress, injuries, or underlying health conditions. The sleep position you choose can significantly impact your neck pain, either exacerbating it or alleviating it. Along with optimizing your sleep position, upper cervical chiropractic care can also play a vital role in managing and reducing neck pain.

Best Sleep Positions for Neck Pain

Back Sleeping with a Cervical Pillow 

One of the best sleep positions for neck pain is on your back. This position keeps your spine aligned, reducing the risk of waking up with a stiff neck. Use a cervical pillow that has a curved design to support the natural shape of your neck. The pillow should maintain the curvature of your neck and support your head adequately without elevating it excessively.

Side Sleeping with a Supportive Pillow

Side sleeping is another favorable position as it keeps your spine elongated and prevents neck and back discomfort. Ensure that the pillow you use is supportive enough to fill the gap between your shoulder and neck. The right pillow should keep your neck parallel to the mattress and not tilt your head upwards or downwards.

Avoid Stomach Sleeping 

Stomach sleeping is generally not recommended if you're dealing with neck pain. This position forces you to turn your head to one side, which puts your neck and spine out of alignment, causing unnecessary strain.

While the best sleep position for neck pain depends on individual preferences and comfort, sleeping on your back or side with a supportive pillow generally offers the most relief. However, addressing the root cause of neck pain often requires more than just adjusting your sleep position. Upper cervical chiropractic care can be an effective approach to address underlying structural issues contributing to neck pain.

How Our Neck Pain Treatment Works

In addition to improving your sleep position, upper cervical chiropractic care can be a critical component of a holistic approach to alleviate neck pain. This specialized area of chiropractic focuses on the top two vertebrae in the neck area, the atlas (C1) and the axis (C2). These vertebrae are crucial because they support the head's weight and allow for a wide range of head movement.

Our neck pain treatment strategy hinges on identifying and addressing the root cause of the issue utilizing the Blair Upper Cervical Chiropractic Technique. By leveraging cutting-edge diagnostic tools, practitioners following the Blair methodology can realign misplaced upper cervical vertebrae, thus mitigating symptoms of neck pain and kick-starting the body's innate healing processes.

At our Blair Chiropractic Clinic, our seasoned Blair chiropractor, Dr. Gordon Elder, employs a two-tiered approach to manage neck pain. In your initial visit, Dr. Elder will conduct an evaluation of your spinal health to assess if you have a misalignment in the upper cervical spine. This evaluation, which usually takes 25-30 minutes, will enable Dr. Elder to provide you with appropriate recommendations for ongoing treatment.

If a misalignment is discovered, the next step of your treatment regimen will be initiated by Dr. Elder. To accurately identify the misalignment's location, he will utilize a variety of 3-D imaging techniques to scrutinize the upper cervical spine and locate the exact point of vertebral misalignment. You'll be given a chance to discuss the results of this procedure and pose any questions you may have to Dr. Elder.

Subsequently, Dr. Elder will conduct a series of delicate, low-impact adjustments targeting the primary area of concern. The aim of this stage is to reestablish the natural alignment of the upper cervical spine, alleviating a source of painful neck pressure and stimulating the body's inherent healing mechanisms.

After the initial adjustment, patients are encouraged to come back for regular check-ups, which will be gradually spaced out to ensure the adjustment remains in place over a period of 3 months. Over a span of 3-5 months, most patients will have between 10 and 15 appointments with Dr. Elder.

If you're experiencing neck pain, contact the Blair Chiropractic Clinic to make an appointment. Based in Lubbock, Texas, the Blair Chiropractic Clinic also services Lubbock, Amarillo, Midland, Odessa, Abilene, El Paso in Texas, and Hobbs in New Mexico.

Published by Vic Belonogoff: A Blair Chiropractic doctor helped heal vertigo, among other conditions that Vic Belonogoff suffered from, and it gave him his life back. He continues to see an upper cervical chiropractor as a preventative measure. Vic Belonogoff is passionate about upper cervical chiropractic and how much it helps patients.

Sleeping disorders

If you are not sleeping like a baby, there may be a reason why that can be corrected

My wife:

When I first met her and we got married, slept maybe 2 hours a night.  She was always exhausted. She was very sick. She had lots of issues. When she got her first upper cervical adjustment I wasn’t a Doctor at the time. She slept for 16 hours that night. Over the years since I became a Chiropractor, I have seen several patients. One of the most common reactions after the first adjustment is: 

”I slept so well last night”. 

That’s not true for everybody and is not true all the time, but definitely, your sleep rhythms are affected by your nervous system.  What’s happening when you are sleeping is your body is kind of resetting and processing things that happen during the day. If you have a neurological problem, it can definitely be interrupting that.

Not to mention that if you have back pain, and the back pain goes away, you are probably going to sleep better.