Do you ever lay in bed at night and can’t sleep due to lower back pain? Well, you’re not alone.
Lower back pain is one of the most common causes of discomfort worldwide. This discomfort can affect one’s normal day life in a number of ways, including a decrease in the amount of high-quality sleep a person may get. Sleep is extremely important for the body, as it is when it heals and regenerates itself. Therefore, if you are not getting enough sleep, your body may not be getting sufficient recovery time, meaning that the lower back pain will have a lesser chance of feeling better. Essentially, without proper planning, your pain can fall into a downward spiral. Your lower back holds up your entire body and requires both strength and mobility to function properly and pain-free.
There are a number of ways in which you can get better sleep, and this post will briefly touch upon helping lower back pain before bed.
There are multiple spinal mobility exercises one can do to help get some movement to a tight and painful back. The exercises in the video below consist of: lower trunk rotations, upper trunk rotations, bridges, single knee to chest, piriformis stretch. These five exercises can be performed anywhere, including your bed while getting ready to sleep. These movements are gentle exercises and help promote relaxation. Similarly, these exercises can be performed in the morning in bed if you feel tightness when you wake up.
Disclaimer: this is not medical advice. If you have lower back pain, you should seek out professional medical advice in person.
Post written by:
Daniel Oberton, PT, DPT