Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion Helpful Tips Lessening pain during sleep

Hi all,

For the past few years, I have been having back pain that starts about 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. It makes the next 2-3 hours difficult to sleep through. Here are some tips that I have found make it easier to get through the last few hours.

Some of these might be obvious, but they weren't obvious to me when I first started dealing with the pain, so I hope they are helpful to some people.

If anyone has any other tips, please add them!

1. Sleep on your side with a pillow between your knees. This helps to keep the spine straight.
2. Sleep on your back with a pillow under your knees. This is kind of a poor man's version of a bed wedge
3. Sleep on your back with a pillow under your butt (this stretches out your back)
4. Sleep on your side and bring one or both knees up to your chest
5. Sit up in bed. Unfortunately this is what I have to do almost every night now. I use a neck pillow to support my neck. I sleep for an hour or two sitting up, then lie down if I have time left before my alarm.
6. Sit up in bed and lean forward to stretch the back
7. Sit up and then fold over to the side so you're bent at the waist - kind of like an extreme version of #6 but you're actually lying completely on the bed. It's a nice way to stretch out the back, but it requires a lot of room on the bed. It's not very feasible if you have to share a small bed with a partner.
8. When I used to go to the chiropractor, she put these " chiropractic pelvic blocks" on either side of my pelvis and the pain instantly went away. If you have access to these, you can try it.

Please add to this list if you have any other tips!

Sounds good, but I do question #4. Curling into a fetal position could exacerbate back problems down the road. My rheumy always stresses keeping a straight back to help prevent the permanent hunched back so common to AS. Hunching (curling) forward does relieve some back pain, but doing that too much may be what leads to permanence.

--Greg

You can bring your knees up and still keep your back fairly straight. So it's not quite like the fetal position. Doing this helps relieve the pain for me.

Leaning forward...yeah that does make the spine curved. But it feels good!

very useful tips and I want to add one more thing i.e. I avoid large meals and take a light meal at dinner time.... the day I took a larger meal I find it very hard to sleep with any position,,,,

If it were just my SI joint, laying flat on my back with a thin feather pillow under my neck and a pillow under my knees worked best. Either side made my SI joint ache. The front killed my neck.

But since my neck has gotten worse, I was sleeping the first half of the night in the recliner, the second half of the night in bed as described above.

Anymore, my neck can not tolerate laying down, no matter how thin the pillow, no matter what. But I can sleep in the recliner. I have a good one.

I sit in the recliner, pillows filling in my lumbar, etc. lean back and sleep that way. its the only way I can sleep now.

Maybe an adjustable bed would work the same; haven't tried that.

If I'm very bad, taking a bath or shower when I wake in the middle of the night, helps me sleep the next half of the night.

Too, a muscle relaxant at bedtime helps a lot with the spasms.

I found out something else recently. If I lie flat on my back and then stick both hands under my butt (one below each cheek), the pain is reduced. I'm not sure if it's because I'm raising my butt a little, thus stretching my back, or of it's because I'm opening up my chest somehow.

Anyway, just another tip to add.

Sue, sorry to hear that you have to sleep on a recliner now. I have an adjustable base bed but I don't use it since it's in the guest room. You remind me that I should maybe start using it again. I bought it because it did help with the pain. Now that I'm married, my wife and I don't use the adjustable base bed anymore.

I use number 1 and 2 I also push a pillow into my chest it helps the costocronditis there is no way I could sleep I'm a recliner kiddos to you Sue my muscle relaxers have helped a great deal also
Lisa