What are the best sleeping positions for the cervical spine?

Many people don't like to sleep with pillows, always feeling that a high pillow affects their sleep, while some people like to sleep with high pillows, which makes them feel better about breathing and more comfortable in the head. In fact, both of these methods are bad for the cervical spine. When sleeping, you should choose a reasonable pillow, and the height of the pillow should be suitable for the height of the neck, otherwise the cervical spine will be injured. So what are the best sleeping positions for the cervical spine? The best positions are:

Supine position

It is best to sleep in a supine position. If you sleep in a prone position, your head and neck often need to bend sideways in order to maintain better breathing. Doing this for a long time can easily cause chronic strain on the cervical ligaments. This situation can be avoided by lying on your back, and there is no need to worry about the relaxation of the neck and shoulder muscles after falling asleep, which may cause cervical instability.

Side-lying position

It is best for patients with cervical spondylosis to keep their left and right knees slightly bent and opposite each other when lying on their side, because the spine will bend due to the influence of the mattress, so it is not suitable for patients with spinal diseases to use this position for a long time, as long-term scoliosis of the spine will develop into spinal disease. The best way is to sleep on your back mainly and on your side as a supplement when you sleep at night, avoid maintaining one posture for a long time, and alternate between left and right movements.

Suitable pillow

When sleeping, in addition to paying attention to the correct sleeping position, you should also pay attention to the gap between your head, neck and pillow. If the pillow is not suitable, the head and neck will be suspended in the air when you sleep, which can easily cause chronic injury to the neck and develop into cervical spondylosis over time. If a patient with cervical spondylosis does not have a good fit with the pillow, the condition will be aggravated.

Good sitting posture

If the sitting posture is incorrect, especially for people who need to sit for a long time, often lowering the head or using a stool that is too high or too low will cause the shoulder and neck muscles to stay in one posture for a long time, which can easily develop into cervical spondylosis over time. To maintain a good sitting posture, you should keep your back and neck straight, and your shoulders and neck naturally relaxed. After maintaining a posture for an hour, you should pay attention to moving your shoulders and neck.

There are many sleeping positions that are best for the cervical spine. The patient will be in one position when sleeping and in another position after falling asleep. Of course, the sleeping position can be adjusted after waking up. But don't worry about it. Damage to the cervical spine is related to sleeping posture and other adverse factors, such as long-term inactivity of the neck and neck diseases. Once abnormal phenomena are discovered, the progression of the disease can be controlled with treatment.