Shoulder Pain? NEVER Sleep In These 3 Positions. Do THIS Instead!
- Mar 19
- 9 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in December 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/FAk77l31DgM
Brad: Oh, my shoulder! I can't sleep. My shoulder pain's driving me nuts, and I hurt it yesterday while swimming.
Mike: Are you struggling to get a good night's sleep with shoulder pain?
Brad: Well, you're in luck because today we're going to go through three options to position yourself so you can sleep all night long. Not only will your shoulder feel better, but your shoulder's going to heal faster.
Mike: Let's take a quick trip down memory lane. So, we're going to go back in time and talk about some great advice from Bob and Brad. But they're supposed to make sure and stay tuned, why?
Brad: Well, we do have an additional option that's going to help you, actually, throughout the day to help that shoulder with a similar concept. Now let's go back in time.
Brad: Shoulder joint, now, the shoulder joint is a shallow socket, and it's sensitive when it does not stay in the joint, and it's pushed off to the side. So, pressure on the joint, especially when it's irritated, for whatever reason, is really going to flare it up.
Bob: You can also get impingement at night if you sleep wrong.
Brad: Exactly right. So, one of the most common things that people do, and they don't do it on purpose, including myself, is they'll roll over on the sore shoulder. And when that happens, the pressure goes on. Oftentimes, puts it slightly out of position, pinches or cuts the circulation off. There are a number of things that can happen to cause pain.
Bob: And you're right, Brad. I am amazed at how prevalent it is. I mean, when I, people with sore shoulders, I always go, "You sleep on the shoulder?" "Yeah."
Brad: "Does it hurt?" "Yeah, I wake up, and it hurts."
Bob: So it's not healing then. You know, it needs time to heal.
Brad: So what is the option? And there is an option, so you can sleep on that side you've been sleeping on your whole life, and you can't break your habit, and... Go ahead.
Bob: All right, here they come, the pillows, number one. We'll keep them rolling here. Number two, number three. Very good.
Brad: Invest in some pillows. But actually, for sleeping on your side, you don't need this many pillows.
Bob: You do need a nice little throw pillow.
Brad: Right, and then use the pillow that you already have.
Bob: You might use two, right? Because you're on your side and I do, I sleep like this every night. I eat my own cooking, as they say. I create a canal here. And by creating the canal now, I'm taking the pressure more on my head and on my thoracic area rather than my shoulder.
Brad: Or kind of the rib cage.
Bob: Or kind of the rib cage, right? And if you want to, you can even roll back a little bit so you're a little more onto your back. And that'll even take more pressure off the shoulder. This really makes a big difference. So if you feel like you just cannot get off that side.
Brad: Go down there again, once Bob, this is what I tell my patients, it makes more sense to me. You can either roll back or think about pulling that shoulder forward a little bit. It really does the same thing, but it's just two ways of looking at it.
Bob: Sure. Gotcha.
Brad: Good. So we got the pillow canal if you're going to sleep on the sore side.
Bob: That's what to do instead of sleeping on the sore spot.
Brad: Now, let's have you lie down again, Bob. Let's say that now the opposite, let's say your left shoulder is sore.
Bob: This is the sore side, sore shoulder.
Brad: And what we're going to do is say this is not so good either, because what happens?
Bob: Oh yeah, you don't want to sleep like this, because you're starting to internally rotate your shoulder. And this is how we actually test for impingement.
Bob: So you're actually impinging the shoulder when it's like this. A lot of people, when they have a sore shoulder that is sore, actually put their arm up on here and let it just rest here. But a good alternative, Brad, would be what?
Brad: Pillows.
Bob: Right.
Brad: You can use one, but two actually can work better.
Bob: Two works a lot better because you put one here, and then you put one actually under the armpit and the arm itself. And this is just a really comfortable thing.
Bob: If you only have one kind of this, it starts happening again. You're kind of turned in yet, so you really need two.
Brad: Because that puts that arm in a neutral position, which makes a big difference in the stress. And we're talking about, you may not notice it when you first lie down with that sore shoulder up, but after an hour when you're sleeping, and you've got that stress on there, you wake up, oh.
Bob: And by the way, Brad and I invested in pillow companies right before the start of this program, so we want it to spike up.
Brad: Oh yeah. Right.
Bob: So, alright, what's next, Brad?
Brad: This is a big one. Although we'll see you can, we don't want you lying on your stomach, and well, we don't, we're not a big promoter of stomach sleeping. But if you do, and then you put your arms overhead. This is probably pretty obvious for most people. But look at this, this is really going to bother your shoulders, or lie on your back and lie with your arms over your head.
Bob: And surprisingly, a lot of people do this; they fall asleep with their hands underneath their head. Or they even fall asleep with their arms up.
Brad: Yep. Sometimes one arm, sometimes both. I had one patient who couldn't get out of the habit. Always slept arms up like that.
Bob: Oh, did she?
Brad: Yeah. She didn't have shoulder pain for quite a while. It was only one shoulder.
Bob: Reminds me of little babies. Little babies sleep that way.
Brad: Yeah, well, they're flexible as can be, aren't they? So, how do you correct this? We're saying no sleeping on your stomach, sleep on your back, but even when you're sleeping on your back, once again you're going to have your pillows, and if this is the shoulder that hurts, you can put one here.
Bob: I actually, generally, I only think one is needed for this. But you could probably do two. But you want to experiment. But I usually, if you get one under the arm like this, this is usually fairly comfortable already. But yeah, gimme another one. Why not?
Brad: It's one of those things that depends on the size of your pillow, what kind of pillow I have, one or two. But you're going to know it's right because it's immediately going to feel like, oh, this is very comfortable on that sore shoulder.
Bob: Yeah, this is not something that you know you're going to be guessing at. Because you'll know.
Brad: It's very clear.
Bob: It's very clear whether or not it's comfortable or not. You know, the thing is that when you're trying to heal an area, sleep is so important. I mean, if you're not getting your sleep, it's not healing as it should. So let's stop putting the pressure on the shoulder.
Brad: Exactly. Alright. Now I'm sure you're going to find that using pillows while you sleep to support your shoulder will make a tremendous difference in the pain and make it feel much better. Now, the similar concept of the gravity taking over, pulling down a shoulder, putting stress on it, you are there while you sit, particularly if you work at a computer station or are seated for any length of time. If we look at Mike, we look at his right shoulder, you can see that it's dropped, oh, about two inches. This whole shoulder, as well as particularly the scapula or the shoulder blade, is dropped down.
Brad: What happens is that it puts stress on the muscles that hold the scapula up. Those muscles actually go up, connect to the neck, and to the head. I don't want to go through the names of all of them and bore you. We'll get through this quickly or that way. So how can we take the pressure off? We need to support the weight of the arm and the shoulder here. Lift it up and take the stress off. Get the shoulder blade where it needs to be. Really makes a big difference. We're going to turn Mike around now, and we're going to show you exactly how to do it. Very simple, actually.
Mike: So when you're sitting in a chair, if you have a stationary chair like mine with the armrest are fixed, this still may be too low, even though it is supporting your shoulder a little bit. So you can take some pillows, fold them up on the side that is painful underneath you, like this, and now it'll be raised up a little bit higher. Taking that stress off of those muscles connected to your scapula here.
Mike: That can help with your shoulder pain. However, if you are in a computer chair, make sure to check your armrest because most of them are adjustable and you can raise them up. If it's still too short, you may need to do the pillow trick or tape something on top of it for higher support.
Brad: There you go. So you can certainly do both sides.
Brad: And I do want to talk about if you're not in a chair like this and you're in a recliner or a chair in the living room, a couple of things that I found with myself, as well as a lot of patients, this is the sore shoulder. You may want to put something at your side and actually put one across your lap, and just let the weight of that arm be supported by the pillow.
Brad: That's the key concept that really makes a big difference. You know, if you find yourself walking around protecting that shoulder like this, I can almost guarantee you that using support with pillows, whether it's seated or lying down, is going to help you out. Good luck with that shoulder. Mike, do we have anything else?
Mike: Yes, you want to check out more videos on shoulder pain and strengthening? Watch Our Five Most Effective Shoulder Pain Exercises (Rotator Cuff, Arthritis, and Impingement).
Brad: Very good. It's a good video, watch it and have fun. But be careful with that shoulder.
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