Do you suffer from shoulder pain due to frozen shoulder?
Sleeping with shoulder pain is difficult. If you wake up from a shoulder ache, falling asleep again can be very uncomfortable.
Shoulder pain can often prevent you from sleeping. Here, in this blog, Dr. Chandra Sekhar, from Hyderabad Shoulder Clinic provides you some tips for improving sleep quality for shoulder problems caused due to frozen shoulder.
What is Frozen Shoulder?
A frozen shoulder is a painful and gradual stiffness of the shoulder capsule. This painful hardening from time to time causes sleep disturbances and limits your ability to use your hands in daily activities.
During Frozen Shoulder, sleeping position on the shoulder becomes difficult, the longer this condition lasts. The patient says that it is easy to relieve oneself from pain during the day as we forget the pain while on work or other necessary activities. But the pain is worse at night. There are several ways to deal with frozen shoulders during sleep and to have quality sleep.
There are several sleeping positions on the frozen hand.
Why Does Frozen Shoulder Pain get Deeper at Night?
This is related to blood flow. At night the blood flow slows to the body. If blood moves slower, water cannot be filtered so quickly from the kidneys that leads to generalized water retention, which leads to an increase in internal pressure in the body. It slightly swells the whole body quickly.
All inflammatory conditions including frozen shoulders worsen overnight. The person who suffers from frozen shoulder already suffers from inflammation in adhesive capsulitis, but at night more inflammation is caused due to high pressurize in the shoulder joint. This leads to a significant increase in pain.
So, should what does a frozen shoulder patient do to get quality sleep at night? They must adapt and find a frozen sleeping position on the shoulder.
Tips To fall asleep When the Shoulder Hurts with Frozen Shoulder
- By resting your shoulders throughout the day, you can reduce inflammation. That relieves pain so that you can sleep comfortably.
- Taking medication that relieves pain and inflammation (analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs) can also help ease pain at night. It is recommended to take tablets before night time to give medication enough time to work on the body.
- If you wake up with shoulder pain after lying on your frozen shoulder, try sleeping on the other side. This sounds obvious, but it’s not as easy as it sounds, because very often, you cannot control your movements when you are in deep sleep. Put a pillow behind you to avoid rolling while sleeping on the frozen shoulder arm, and switch positions with your partner in bed, depending on which shoulder is affected. Sleeping on several pillows or on a unique mattress that is easy to sleep can also prevent rolling on a sore shoulder.
- Light stretching exercise can also help overcome shoulder pain. This can relax some tightened muscles around the shoulder and allow some space to open up in the shoulder so that the pain subsides and you can try to fall asleep again.
Frozen Shoulder Sleep Positions
A frozen shoulder is an excruciating and debilitating condition. This has a harmless effect on life but inhibits simple activities: wearing clothes, lifting a grandchild, etc. But the most challenging part is probably the lack of sleep. And lack of sleep makes you sick. It affects the process of healing and recovery and contributes to inflammation. This makes work and daily life more difficult.
- One Position is lying on the unaffected side and hugging on a pillow or cushion. Pillows or cushion should be positioned to support the frozen arm and prevent it from moving at night.
- For People who sleep on their backs all night, it is helpful to place a pillow behind the back to prevent accidental rolling over onto a frozen shoulder arm.
- Others have reported that heating a bag full of wheat and putting it on the shoulders before going to sleep brings faster and better sleep. The heat will dissipate in a few hours, but by that time, you will fall asleep deeply. The only problem is accidentally rolling onto a frozen shoulder and waking up with intense pain.
1. Avoid Sleeping on Your Front:
It might be tempting to sleep on the front, relieving pressure from a sore shoulder. Unfortunately, if you sleep on the front, you will pull your shoulders forward so that they are not parallel and do not maintain a stable position. Instead, it is better to sleep on your back because this will keep your shoulders in a right and stable position.
1. Use Support Pillow for Your Head
You need a pillow under your head to keep your body in the correct and proper alignment so that it makes your shoulders as comfortable as possible. Consider putting a small corrugated cloth under your neck for additional support.
1. Try to Sleep On The Opposite Side Of The Affected Shoulder
If you can’t sleep on your back, try the lateral sleeping position on the other side of your body rather than on your affected shoulder side. In this situation, use a pillow to relieve your shoulder pain. Place a cushion in the armpit area of the affected shoulder.
1. Use a Body Pillow
After sleeping, if you feel movements painful or waking you up, using a full-size body pillow may be a good night ticket for you. This prevents you from moving around a sore shoulder, but it’s still quite comfortable.
Don’t Be Afraid to Try Various Tips And Sleeping Positions
If a particular sleep situation has worked for you for a while but no longer does it work, try something different. Use the other tips given as a good starting point. It has been proven that sleeping in the same or steady position can cause shoulder pain. A permanent sleep position can cause compression or cramping in some areas of the body, which results in postural imbalances that cause pain from time to time. Of course, if you have found a great relaxed setting for your sore shoulder, you don’t need to change it. Try the new option if your preferred sleeping position is no longer suitable for you.
Conclusion:
In general, you must follow a healthy schedule of at least eight hours of sleep per night. Treat your sore shoulder with care. Also, it may be time to visit your physiotherapist to reduce pain. Often, a physical therapist can relieve pain through direct treatment and personal training to increase flexibility and strength.
If you feel pain in the shoulder after sleeping and have recently been diagnosed with a frozen shoulder, you must first change your sleep position. If shoulder pain continues after a few days or worsens despite attempts at pain relief medications and icing with a prescription, consult Dr. Chandra Sekhar for further treatment.