How to Sleep with Hip Pain – Experiencing hip pain during the night can hinder falling asleep or being comfortable enough to stay asleep. Whether your pain is due to arthritis, bursitis, injury, or simply due to poor posture, sleep positions and habits are very important. Thankfully, sitting and lying up while sleeping can be helpful and a few little changes can bring tremendous relief and help you wake up feeling better.
How to Sleep with Hip Pain – Why It Happens
How to Sleep with Hip Pain – A lot of people experience hip pain, which often increases when lying down. This might be due to:
- Pressure on sore joints or bursae from inflammation
- Poor mattress or sleeping surface
- Misaligned sleeping posture
- Underlying medical conditions, such as arthritis or tendonitis
- Sleeping on the painful, side-hip
Knowing the reason why you experience hip pain as occurs when lying down helps you to adopt the best sleeping strategies.
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If you can sleep on your non- painful side, this will lessen the inflammation.
- Ideally, sleep on the non- painful side
- Place a fluffy pillow between your knees to keep hips aligned
- Avoid curling into a tight fetal curl
- All of these points will decrease any compression on your joints, and assist in equal body mass.
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Consider Sleeping on Your Back
How to Sleep with Hip Pain Reducing pressure on the hips completely can occur during back sleeping
Here is how to:
- Lie flat with a supportive pillow under your knees
- Keep arms by your side to avoid rotating
- Utilize a mattress topper if your surface is hard
- This will help you keep the spine in a mostly neutral position, along with minimizing pressure on the hips.
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Consider a Body Pillow for Support
Body pillows help you maintain proper alignment.
- If you sleep on your side, hug a full-length pillow.
- Tuck one end between your knees and put your upper arm on the other.
- It can stop your twisting in bed and your hips from rotating in your sleep.
- This is useful for people who toss and turn at night.
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Assess the Quality of the Mattress and Pillows
The surface you are sleeping on has a large effect on how comfortable you are.
- A mattress that is too firm: that will put pressure to the hip
- A mattress that is too soft: that will allow the body to sink causing body’s misalignment
- A medium-firm mattress with a little cushioning is ideal
- Also consider memory foam and orthopaedic mattress toppers as part of the support system.
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Use Heat Before Your Sleep
Heat is useful to relax the hip muscles and decrease discomfort before sleeping.
- Use a heating pad for 10 minutes just before bed
- Relieves stiffness and improves blood flow to the area
- Do not sleep while heating pad is on
- This can assist in decreasing night-time flares and improve comfort in bed.
How to Sleep with Hip Pain – When to See a Doctor
Contact a doctor if you have night pain that occurs every night, or if it appears to be getting worse.
- Look for changes in your vision, swelling, or numbness or tingling
- Night pain that is disruptive to activities of daily living should be further evaluated
- Receiving treatment in a timely manner is important in avoiding further joint damage.
How to Sleep with Hip Pain – Conclusion
It is possible to sleep with hip pain if you put persistent small changes in place. Considering different sleep positions, utilizing pillows to support your body in your sleep posture, along with choosing a suitable mattress solution can reduce pain. Adding some simple stretches and heat can be more effective, while maintaining intentional sleep habits allows for night after night of rest and waking free of pain.
