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A Simple Tip for Alleviating Low Back Pain When Sleeping on Your Stomach

By May 29, 2013January 11th, 2014Low Back Reconditioning

Many individuals wake up with low back pain. Sometimes this pain can be prevented. When individuals sleep on their stomach, the lumbar spine can go into excessive hyperextension. This jams the posterior elements of the spine together which can lead to pain.

low back pain

In order to prevent this from happening, perform a posterior pelvic tilting action prior to lying down. Simply lift the body upward and squeeze the glutes as hard as possible, then lay back down. This new position will “grip” and the spine will be in a more neutral position, which will prevent the posterior elements from jamming together.

posterior-pelvic-tilt

I’ve had a few clients over the years inform me that this simple tip was a life-changer for them, so I figured it was worth posting as a blog in case others out there could benefit from it. Here’s a 20-second video showing how it’s done:

There are plenty of other beneficial strategies for alleviating low back pain when sleeping. Placing pillows underneath the abdominals when sleeping on one’s stomach, in between the knees when sleeping on one’s side, and/or underneath the legs when sleeping on one’s back can work miracles too, as can avoiding problematic positions altogether. Finding optimal mattresses and pillows can be life-savers as well.

Don’t just accept low back pain as part of life – be proactive about it and figure out solutions. Sleep should go hand in hand with your strength training endeavors, not work against them!

20 Comments

  • Raptor says:

    The pillow thing can work but wouldn’t that compound the issue you already have? I mean wouldn’t it be better to improve the hip flexor flexibility, improve ab strength etc?

    Some people might get the message that using pillows under/between the legs etc is all they need. If you’re in anterior pelvic tilt and you do that… then you’re going to always be in anterior pelvic tilt (like I am).

    And even if you stretch and do all that, sitting for ~8 hours in a anteriorly rotated pelvic position isn’t going to really help.

  • Andy... says:

    Or you could just resort to another sleeping position?.

    There seems to be a lot of conflict what the ideal sleeping position is.

    Lying on your right side frees the spinal column of the oppression of gravity and allows it to assume its natural curvature, relieving the spine from stress. Your also going to placing less stress on your heart.

    Heres a good blog from Scott Sonnon on the subject: http://www.rmaxinternational.com/flowcoach/?p=1103

    “Position impacts greatly impacts quality of sleep. Sleeping in fetal position restricts diaphragmatic breathing causing shallow sleep depth (low quality rest and recovery). Sleeping on your back induces severe snoring leading to restless shallow sleep. Sleeping on your stomach prohibits neutral spine, pressures joints and impinges nerves. Sleeping on your side produces optimal biomechanics (especially on your left side) as it increases blood flow, maintains neutral spine, releases pressure from joints and nerves, prevents snoring and releases diaphragmatic breathing; these combine to allow deep, quality sleep.”

    From my research sleeping on your stomach (freefaller) is the worst position you can adopt.

    It just takes some practice to get out of the habit.

    • Omar says:

      Your comment “simply resort to another position” is a little silly. Do you really think that of we had not tried and thought of that people would be looking for other answers? Ones body has preferred sleeping positions and no matter how some people try (like myself) our body while sleeping goes back to its preferred position.

      • Tricia says:

        Omar,

        I agree. I have tried new sleeping positions to only end up awake and just as uncomfortable. I tried the recommended exercise and am so happy and comfortable laying on my stomach once again. I wish I new about this 15 years ago. What a life changer.

        I wish you comfortable rest soon.

  • Andy... says:

    Just to add.

    Sleeping on the floor all night without a pillow is great for posture & spinal decompression.

    This I suggest be done lying on your back & you might not believe this but I’m certain this made me stronger.

    This tribe supposedly adopt it:

    http://www.primalbritain.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Ubong-Posture.jpg

  • Patrick says:

    This may be a weird question but where did you get that photo at the top? The one of the blue guy holding his lower back and the nerves lit up? Please, I’d really appreciate it.

    Thanks,
    Patrick

  • Beth says:

    This post was extremely helpful. I’d like to recommend a memory foam mattress as it really worked to help relive my mild lower back pain, and woke up in the morning pain free, it also helps to relive it days after, which is great because I travel a lot. however this is only very mild back pain, I don’t have any knowledge surrounding serve back pain or clinical conditions. sorry if this isn’t helpful!

    • Jonathan says:

      Ditto on the memory foam mattress. As soon as I got a good quality memory foam mattress to sleep on, most of my back issues were addresses. I also spend about 10 minutes on an inversion table before I go to bed. The combination of the inversion table and memory foam mattress have really done wonders in improving my back pain.

      Hope these tips also help other people out there!

  • ant says:

    Makes sense. I get horrible back pain when I sleep. Love the posts

  • Miles Austin says:

    Thanks for the information! I recently saw one of the top specialists for back pain in NJ and he gave me the same tip. He also told me that if I sleep on my side I can put a pillow between my legs and it will have the same effect!

  • Hey Bret,

    I have used the new sleeping positions mentioned in your blog and it really works. I was having terrible back pain on regular basis and I felt really helpless. I tried the mentioned exercises and now I am happy with my conditions now. Thanks!

  • A. Richens says:

    Both my wife and I have been both experiencing back pain due to a mattress that needs to be updated pretty soon. At one point I was worried that I had back pain stemmed from my lifting that caused the aggravation..! It was better knowing both of us were experiencing this and now this technique will be added for sure, great advice Bret! Rotating the mattress (much like rotating wheels on a car) is also a good idea when pain post sleep occurs, also I’ll be trying out a memory foam pillow given to us to help with keeping neutral posture, because like a lot of people, I find myself sleeping on my stomach…

  • Grayson says:

    Had to find this page again to come back and say thanks. 2 days into trying this at night and I woke up today with almost no lower back pain. This is great! I have always been told that I have great posture when squatting weight, but I felt vunerable at my lower back. I also get lower back pain running. I am almost certain now that too much curve in the lower back is the culprit. Can I and should I incorporate this exercise in upright activities? Can I over do this? I have been doing standing stretches down to my toes and when I come up I try to do like the video and it seems to get rid of the lower back curve I have just standing and sitting around.

  • Alicia says:

    Thank you for better explaining how the spine is being moved while sleeping. I have been having increasing back pain and recently found out I have spondylolisthesis (at S1/L5). I slept on my stomach for years and have managed to switch to my back when I found out I may have some back problem but I was still having difficulty sleeping some nights. A friend recommended trying a hammock, which was wonderful for a time but then I began to notice the back pain wasn’t being alleviated in the hammock as well as it once had been, but I was still sleeping really well. It was around the time I noticed the pain even while in the hammock that I learned I had spondylolisthesis. I continue to hear and read that sleeping in a hammock is actually a great angle for the normal spine, but because my vertebrae is actually slipped forward I was worried sleeping in the hammock could be bad for me. I subsequently switched back to my bed until I could ask a professional more about this. But I am not sleeping again (and so found your article in the middle of the night!) Do you have any advice on this? I would love to also better understand how the hammock is moving my spine when I sleep in it (on my back).

  • suzie says:

    Thank you so much! I have been waking up in agony as unable to move.. and I can’t belive how much this works! So simple and effective 🙂

  • Hello,
    I generally have a problem of lower back pain. I thought sleeping on the floor would reduce it, but it never helped. While searching measures to cure lower back pain, I found your article. It was really helpful. I could realize that one of the reasons for my back pain would be usage of wrong mattress. I have bought this new mattress and fortunately my back problem has reduced to level that I can move around and sleep relaxed at night. Thank you for the help!
    Thank you
    Janna Jamieson

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