1-800-490-4QCK
BLOG
Why Does Your Shoulder Hurt When You Sleep and What Helps?
Blog > Shoulder Pain From Sleeping
Shoulder pain from sleeping is more than an excruciating inconvenience. Sleep disruption can impair decision-making, concentration, and problem-solving, leaving you irritable and anxious. Worse, poor sleep compromises your ability to heal, leaving you with many more nights of sleeping on shoulder pain. Fortunately, QC Kinetix has a surgery free shoulder pain solution.
While shoulder pain when sleeping may have a simple cause, like your sleep position, it’s also possible that it is the first recognizable symptom in a more severe condition. Eliminating the problem may be as simple as using a few extra pillows and regular exercise, or you may need to pursue regenerative shoulder therapy to resolve the injury and pain.
Understanding Shoulder Pain from Sleeping
Many people who sleep lying on their side experience shoulder pain when sleeping. A small Danish study found that 67% of side sleepers with pain in one shoulder slept on that shoulder. It’s easy to understand how lying on your side with your shoulder bearing the weight of your torso can cause shoulder pain. It may be less clear how a sore shoulder from sleeping may be the first symptom of a severe shoulder condition.
When we’re awake and busy, we can distract ourselves from discomfort and unconsciously make small physical adjustments to ease aches and stress. The brain can also mitigate pain signals, making them easier to push into the background of our attention. But when we sleep, we have no distractions and far less freedom of movement. As our brain grows fatigued, it is less adept at quieting those pain signals. For these reasons, pain becomes less manageable at night.
What Causes Shoulder Pain When Sleeping?
Sleeping in a poor position can cause shoulder pain. Side sleeping pulls your spine out of proper alignment while putting undue pressure on your hips, lower back, and shoulders. However, shoulder pain when sleeping can also alert you to a more severe condition. Osteoarthritis, bursitis, rotator cuff damage, frozen shoulder, and shoulder impingement are some of the potential causes of shoulder pain when sleeping.
Common Symptoms
Common symptoms associated with conditions that cause shoulder pain when sleeping include:
Osteoarthritis:
- Symptoms: Deep, aching pain in the shoulder joint, stiffness, reduced range of motion, clicking or grinding sounds, and pain that worsens with activity or at the end of the day.
Bursitis:
- Symptoms: Sharp or stabbing pain in the shoulder, swelling, tenderness around the joint, and increased pain when lying on the affected side.
Rotator Cuff Injury:
- Symptoms: Dull ache deep in the shoulder, difficulty sleeping on the affected side, arm weakness, crackling and grating sounds when moving the arm, and pain when lifting or lowering the arm.
Frozen Shoulder (Adhesive Capsulitis):
- Symptoms: Stiffness and restricted movement in the shoulder, pain that increases at night, and difficulty performing daily activities.
Shoulder Impingement:
- Symptoms: Persistent pain in the top of the shoulder and around the outer side, pain that worsens with movements overhead, and pain that becomes pronounced when lying on the affected shoulder.
How to Fix Shoulder Pain from Sleeping
When you experience shoulder pain from sleeping, you just want to find a way to sleep through the night. This information will help keep you comfortable in bed at night. However, if your pain results from a more severe condition, you’ll need to address it, perhaps with regenerative medicine.
Adjusting Your Sleeping Position
Learning to sleep on your back provides numerous benefits, not the least of which is taking pressure off your shoulders. Back sleeping also improves your spinal alignment, helps prevent acid reflux, reduces tension headaches, lessens sinus pressure buildup, and is better for your face. If your shoulder pain is from sleeping on your side alone, with no other conditions at work, learning to sleep on your back will resolve it.
Start training yourself to sleep on your back by getting a good, medium-firm mattress. Then, make sure you have a few good-quality pillows.
Using Supportive Pillows
Getting used to sleeping on your back may be difficult initially, but a few supportive pillows will help. Start with a pillow under your knees to help you be more comfortable and to keep you from turning onto your side. You may also want a smaller pillow under your lower back and one tucked under the back of the shoulder you typically lie on.
The goal is to improve your comfort while lying on your back and to prevent yourself from turning over in your sleep out of habit.
Practical Tips for Relieving Shoulder Pain
If you experience shoulder pain from sleeping and your position in bed is the sole cause, training yourself to sleep on your back should eliminate your pain. However, if the pain persists due to an underlying condition, you’ll need some strategies for managing the pain.
Regular Stretching and Exercises
Resting an injured shoulder is important, but stretching and strengthening the joint and surrounding muscles can help to ease the pain. Do not push yourself through the pain. If the pain is too severe for exercise, seek medical attention.
At times when the pain is manageable, gentle exercise like swimming, water aerobics, yoga, or T’ai Chi can help stretch and strengthen your shoulder muscles without overstraining them. The exercise will improve blood circulation to your shoulder, carrying essential nutrients to the joint and eliminating waste. Further, strengthening healthy joint muscles can ease the load on the damaged tissues.
Applying Heat or Cold Therapy
When shoulder pain from sleeping persists and interferes with your day, OTC painkillers and hot and cold therapy can alleviate discomfort. Wrap an ice pack in a towel and apply it to your shoulder for 20 minutes to relieve inflammation, swelling, and pain. However, for sore, tight muscles, use a hot water bottle cushioned by a towel for 20-minute intervals.
Over-the-counter painkillers or NSAIDs can help reduce pain. Consider using a topical CBD cream to relax the muscles, increase blood flow, and alleviate pain. For longer-term benefits, consider exploring shoulder joint pain relief supplements.
Exploring Regenerative Medicine for Shoulder Pain
Regenerative medicine is an innovative field that seeks to enhance and revitilize damaged, degenerating tissues with healthy cells without resorting to surgery or causing additional physical damage. It involves treatments that stimulate and direct the body’s natural healing processes to the pain source. In addition to alleviating pain, the goal is to restore function, improve range of motion, and better the patient’s quality of life.
Benefits of Regenerative Medicine for Shoulder Pain
If your shoulder pain when sleeping is caused by injured muscle, tendon, ligament, or joint tissues, changing your sleep position will improve your sleep but not the pain you deal with during the day. Conditions like osteoarthritis and bursitis get worse if left untreated. Regenerative shoulder therapy can resolve your pain while stimulating the joint’s healing.
While surgery may be necessary in some cases, regenerative medicine can achieve the same positive results as surgery without additional pain, drugs, scarring, or risks of complications. Shoulder surgery is expensive in more ways than financial. It also causes additional damage your body must heal from in addition to the original condition.
Personal Stories and Testimonials
QC Kinetix stands out with its customer video testimonials, which are not just inspiring stories but real-life examples of the transformative benefits of regenerative medicine. Take Anthony, for instance, an auto mechanic who was grappling with a torn rotator cuff that severely limited the movement of his right arm. In just four months, he regained a full range of motion and returned to work, completely free from pain.
This businessman needed a non-surgical approach to alleviating his shoulder pain. He did not miss a day of work, and now, he says, “I feel great!”
Explore our testimonials for many more success stories.
Relieving Shoulder Pain from Sleeping
If you experience shoulder pain from sleeping on your side with no other underlying cause, changing your sleeping position will remedy your pain. However, consider QC Kinetix for shoulder pain relief if your pain persists.
Schedule your free consultation to learn what we can do for you. You have nothing to lose but your pain!
Joint & Bone Health Quickstart Program
QC Kinetix Joint & Bone Health supplements help your body to repair and renew injured joint tissues, including cartilage, ligaments, and tendons, while reducing inflammation of the bursae. Unlike steroids or pharmaceuticals, our supplements for joints work with your body to promote healing.
Supplements can boost your overall joint health as part of a general fitness program. However, they are particularly valuable for treating damaged or inflamed and painful joints. The Arthritis Foundation finds that joint health supplements show promise for relieving pain, stiffness, and other symptoms of arthritis.
QC Kinetix
Get Started with QC Kinetix
*Fill out the form below, and an expert will reach out to you shortly. All fields must be completed.
*Please allow 30-60 minutes of allotted time to meet with a specialist to determine if you are a candidate for our services. Exams are included and are complimentary.
