Sleeping With Sciatica Dos And Donts
August 18, 2018 by guestpost
The sciatic nerve extends from the lower back, through the buttocks and hips, and down along each leg. Some individuals are affected by sciatica, which causes pain in the sciatic nerve. Common causes can be a bone spur on the spine, a herniated disc, or a narrowing in the spine. That pain can radiate down along the path of the sciatic nerve. There may also be inflammation and numbness. Sciatica typically affects only one side of the body. Nonetheless it can be uncomfortable and difficult to ease.
Individuals with sciatica may wonder what techniques they can use for the prevention and management of their pain. Learn about how you can best manage your sciatica pain, especially while in a prone position for sleeping, with a few Dos and Donts:
Another Organic Option Thats Ideal For Back Sleepers
Avocado
Cyber Monday mattress sale: Enter the promo code SAVEBIG to score $125 off Avocados hybrid and latex mattresses or code BFBLISS to save $3o0 on the brands Organic Luxury Plush Mattress. You can also get $200 off wood bed frames.
- Materials: GOLS-organic latex, pocketed support coils
- Sizes: Twin, Twin XL, Full, Queen, King, California King
- Trial period: One year
Many of todays mattresses are made from memory foam, which typically contains synthetic chemicals. If youre looking for something a bit more eco-friendly, consider the Avocado Green Mattress. Its constructed of organic ingredients, including a layer of organic latex sitting on top of more than 1,000 pocketed support coils. The mattress has a gentle-yet-firm feel and five distinct ergonomic zones that adapt to your pressure points and provide relief where you need it. The thoughtful construction also helps reduce motion transfer and distributes weight more evenly so the mattress can contour to your bodys natural shape. Its best for back and stomach sleepers.
Casper Wave Hybrid Mattress
Best for ergonomic support
The Casper Wave Hybrid mattress uses gel pods to relieve pressure on painful areas, such as the back and hips.
These pods are situated where the waist and hips would typically be on the mattress, so there is minimal sinking and the spine is aligned. Gel can provide more support than foam, and it may be beneficial for those with sciatica.
The ergonomic support throughout the mattress means it is softer around the shoulders and aligns the body in every sleeping position.
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A Mattress That Has Three Separate Zones For Ultimate Comfort
Casper
- Sizes: Twin, Twin XL, Full, Queen, King, California King
- Trial period: 100 nights
The Casper mattress has three zones of targeted support to help align your spineand hopefully ease your back pain in the process. Softer foam around your shoulders cushions your upper body, while firmer foam under your hips, waist and lower back keep your spine in the right position. The durable foam base underneath allows for added firmness and support, so the mattress doesnt sink or sag under your weight.
Mattress Score For Sciatica
Overall Score for Sciatica: 9.8/10
Customer Satisfaction: 9.6/10
#2 Bear Mattress
Bear mattress offers three amazing mattresses that have received rave reviews from customers. Their original memory foam has won acclaim with athletes on a budget, the Bear Hybrid is great for those looking for a pressure-relieving higher end feel, and their Bear Pro is perfect for those looking for an ultra-cooling contouring feel. From the Celliant® to copper cooling, these mattresses also are designed to be superior at cooling, alleviating muscle pain, and supporting the spine. With these three competitive mattress options, folks report loving these beds.
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Best Budget Hybrid For Sciatica: Vaya Hybrid
Although the Vaya Hybrid has a different base, the top layer features the same plush comfort foam as their all-foam model. This material immediately responds to pressure to keep the joint cushioned and protected from pressure points even as you change positions throughout the night.
Warranty
Unlike Vayas original model, their hybrid mattress has a pocketed spring coil base. Each coil is triple wrapped in soft yet durable material for added comfort and pressure relief. Different than traditional innerspring coils, pocketed coils move independently of one another for more accurate contouring and less motion transfer.
Vayas comfort foam is soft and conforming, but it also has a slight bounce to gently lift the hips so the spine remains in alignment with the shoulders. This layer keeps those with sciatica comfortable and supported throughout the night.
The Vaya Hybrid comes with a 100-night sleep trial so you can test out the bed and make sure its right for you. It also comes with a 10-year warranty that covers manufacturing defects, such as sags and indents deeper than .75 inches.
Best Adjustable Mattress For Sciatica
Saatva Solaire Mattress
- Type: Memory foam and latex
- Height: 13 inches
Key features: Reviewers say this air adjustable mattress is a favorite for them and their partner. It allows you to adjust each side of the bed with a remote that has 50 different firmness settings. The company says the mattress also absorbs any motion to help you not feel your partner moving throughout the night.
Some customer reviews state that the mattress helped relieve hip and back pain starting the first week they slept on it.
Considerations: If you prefer a traditional memory foam mattress without the frills, this may not be the mattress for you. Its also pretty tall, so it may not work well for shorter sleepers.
- Type: Polyurethane foam
- Height: 13 inches
Key features: This mattress has three layers of perforated, breathable polyurethane foam. It also has a layer with gel pods designed to relieve aches and pains, which may be a good choice for sciatic pain. People dealing with back issues state in their reviews that their pain dissipated after sleeping on the mattress.
Considerations: According to reviews, some customers found the mattress too hard for their liking. Some felt too warm throughout the night despite the cooling gel. Luckily, Casper offers a 100-night risk-free trial, so you can try the bed and make sure it works for you before committing to it.
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What To Consider When Looking For A Mattress For Sciatica
Before you start your mattress review search, ask yourself: What kind of pain are you experiencing? How heavy are you? What type of sleeper are you ?
Clearly, all back pain is not created equal. You may experience soreness or the pain may virtually paralyze you. I dont know your situation, but I can tell you that lower back pain and upper back pain are entirely different beasts. If youre experiencing upper back pain, Id suggest looking at our Best Mattress for Back Pain list. It overlaps a little with this list, but we discuss the upper back in more detail there.
For sciatica pain , you generally want a firmer mattress to help keep your spine in proper alignment. Youll probably be choosing anything from a medium to medium-firm or even a firm mattress. But even more than the firmness, you should look into a supportive mattress, especially if youre heavy or overweight.
Choosing The Best Mattress For Lower Back Pain
Sleeping on the wrong mattress can cause or worsen lower back pain. Lack of support from a mattress reinforces poor sleeping posture, strains muscles and does not help keep the spine in alignment, all of which contribute to low back pain.
Sleep comfort is also sacrificed if a mattress does not match ones individual preferences. A mattress that provides both comfort and back support helps reduce low back pain, allowing the structures in the spine to really rest and rejuvenate during the night.
See Mattresses and Sleep Positions for Each Back Pain Diagnosis
With the vast variety of mattresses on the market, choosing the right mattress can be difficult. The following practical guidelines are designed to help patients with low back pain choose the best mattress for both back support and sleep comfort:
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Alleviated Insomnia And Deeper Sleep
The concept behind the zero-g sleep position is that it’s designed to reduce stress on your body by removing pressure on your muscles and joints. This heightened state of relaxation is meant to help you doze offand remain in a deeper state of sleep an enormous benefit for those who deal with insomnia regularly.
Sleep Number 360 C2 Smart Mattress
The Sleep Number 360 c2 is an air bed that adjusts to your preferred firmness level, so you can find the perfect firmness for your body type and sleeping position. It comes with a remote so that you can adjust the amount of air with just a click.
The difference between the two mattresses is 1 inch of thickness. The c2 has a 2-inch layer in the top comfort layer made of gel-infused foam on top of the 6-inch air chamber layer. The c4 has a 3-inch layer. Also, the c4 has zoned support in the comfort layer, meaning its less dense to contour to hips and shoulders or more dense to support the neck or lower back. The Classic line beds are the most affordable you will find at Sleep Number.
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Mattress Features To Look For To Relieve Back Pain
When shopping for a mattress to help relieve back pain, some features are more important than others. With so many products and a bevy of marketing hype, it can be tough to parse out what really matters. Youre most likely to get the most satisfaction out of your purchase by focusing on certain key considerations:
- Mattress Type: the materials and design will play a huge role in the performance of a mattress. The contouring, bounce, firmness, temperature regulation, and motion isolation of a mattress will be different for each mattress type, so it is critical for shoppers to think about their priorities and choose a mattress with components that will best meet their needs.
- Zoned Support: weight from the body is not distributed evenly instead, certain areas tend to require more cushioning. A zoned mattress takes that into account and offers reinforced support in those areas.
- Quality Materials: a mattress made with excellent materials is much more likely to provide the performance, reliability, and durability that people with back pain need.
- Firmness Level: firmness is a key driver of mattress comfort and is largely a matter of personal preference. At the same time, the right firmness level can play a big part in whether a mattress offers sufficient support, and that will depend significantly on a persons body weight and sleeping position.
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Q: Which Sleeping Position Is Best To Alleviate Back Pain
A: Side sleeping or back sleeping are the best positions to ease your back pain. Even better, you can place a pillow between your knees while side sleeping to take strain off your spine. Likewise, you can slip a pillow under your knees while back sleeping to maintain your spine in its normal S curve.
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Sleep Strategies And Bedding Accessories For Sciatica
In addition to sleeping on a supportive mattress, individuals with sciatica can further improve their sleep quality with the following sleep strategies and products.
How Should I Sleep With Sciatica?
Above, we discussed the optimal firmness settings for each sleep position. To recap:
- Side sleepers prefer softer mattresses
- Stomach sleepers need firmer mattresses
- Back sleepers enjoy mattresses with middle-of-the-road firmness ratings
Regardless of your chosen sleep position, there are ways you can sleep to relieve pressure and improve spinal alignment. For example:
If you experience pain on one side more than the other, avoid sleeping on the painful side. Its common for people with sciatica to toss and turn during the night so their bodies can find a more comfortable position. Unfortunately, occasionally this results in them sleeping on the painful side.
To keep yourself from turning over onto the painful side, place pillows around your body or put a tennis ball in the pocket of your pajamas. Whenever you try to turn over, the pillows will keep you in place, or your body will react to the ball and stay either on your good side or your back.
A contoured knee pillow can be a more comfortable option for side sleepers. These are shaped to fit between your knees, with the goal of improving spinal alignment.
If you sleep on your stomach, consider lying with a flat pillow beneath your lower stomach. This can relieve additional pressure in your lower back.
Head Pillow
| Loft Category |
Why Read This Blog
Is your mobility affected or are you suffering from any kind of pain or discomfort? Here, at Natural Sleep, we have spent years listening to our customers, understanding their needs and ensuring they get all the comfort they need for a good nights sleep. We know that sometimes its the small things in life that can make a big difference in the way we live.
So, we have created this blog to share all our knowledge, expertise and tips to help make life that little bit easier for you.
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How Should I Sleep With Lower Back Pain
There are a few ways a person can sleep to deal with lower back pain. Back sleepers can place a pillow under their knees, and side sleepers can place a pillow between their knees. Stomach sleeping is not a good position for lower back pain. However, if someone must sleep in this position, they can place a pillow under the stomach near the pelvis.
Getting Your Best Sleep When Pregnant With Sciatica
Sciatica is a super common symptom of pregnancy. But dont worry, baby! You can still get a good nights rest if your eggo is preggo.
Doctors generally recommend that pregnant peeps sleep on their side. The left side is even better since it allows optimal blood flow from the large vain running parallel to your spine . Left side sleeping also takes some pressure off the liver and kidneys.
Thankfully, side sleeping is already a great position for folks with sciatica. More good news: Studies have found that either side is safe for you and your bébé. So sleep on whichever side isnt bothering you.
PSA: Add a pillow or towel under your waist or between your knees. You can also use a heating pad to help your muscles relax before bedtime.
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Is It Better To Sit Or Stand With Lower Back Pain
If youre experiencing back pain when sitting, your impulse may be to lie down and then try to slowly progress back to sitting, says Dr. Atlas. But this is the wrong approach. You should lie down to relieve the pain, but the goal should be not to return to sitting, but rather to regain your ability to stand and move.
Best Hybrid Mattress For Sciatica: Amore Luxury Hybrid Mattress
The Amore Luxury Hybrid Mattress is covered with organic cotton and organic wool and contains both an innerspring system and several memory foam layers. In addition to the natural fabrics used for the mattress cover and topping, the Amore Luxury Hybrid contains a layer of Dunlop latex for additional support and shape retention.
From the bottom up, this mattress is a true hybrid. Using some of the best components of modern mattress design, the Amore Luxury Hybrid could be a great option for sleepers of all types, a rare quality in a mattress.
The internal innerspring system offers bolstered edge support for users that prefer to sleep near the edge of the bed, while the springy latex layer above the innerspring provides proper spinal support and alignment for back and stomach sleepers.
There is a layer of contouring memory foam squeezed into this mattress, but its hidden beneath the latex layer, rendering it far less effective. This mattress was designed to work with adjustable bed bases, ensuring that it can bend and flex without tearing or sagging.
Customers who decide to invest in this mattress can take advantage of a 100-night sleep trial. Included with the purchase of each Amore Luxury Hybrid Mattress is a 20-year limited warranty that protects buyers against manufacturing flaws and mattress indentations greater than 1 inch in depth.
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How Do I Find My Sleep Number
There are two main ways to find ones Sleep Number.
- Go to your nearest Sleep Number store and work with a Sales Representative to identify your setting. They will have you lay on a bed in the store and work with you to find both your ideal setting and what Sleep Number mattress models and options may suit you best.
- Find your number at home using your own Sleep Number bed and the remote that it comes with. Following the instructions on Sleep Numbers website, you will want to lie in your waking up sleep position and allow the mattress to go from soft to firm and back from firm to soft so you can identify which level is best for you.
Ones Sleep Number setting is really ultimately determined by what feels right to them. Those who are more inclined to sleep on firmer beds will more likely have a higher Sleep Number than those who like more cushion.
A few things to keep in mind while people are searching for their Sleep Number setting.
