How to Sleep With Frozen Shoulder

Living with frozen shoulder can be an incredibly painful experience. This condition restricts your range of motion, making simple tasks like brushing your teeth, washing your hair, or getting dressed challenging. Unfortunately, frozen shoulder may also affect your sleep, causing persistent upper arm or shoulder pain that can disrupt your rest. 

Lack of sleep impacts your daily life and hampers your body’s healing process. In this article, we’ll discuss practical strategies to help you manage your frozen shoulder pain and get the rest you deserve.

The Importance of a Good Night’s Rest

Adequate and uninterrupted sleep plays a vital role in your overall well-being. Without enough sleep, individuals often become irritable, short-tempered, and prone to anger. This can strain personal relationships and hinder professional performance, leading to increased distraction and reduced effectiveness at work. Moreover, lack of sleep impairs the body’s ability to heal over time. That’s why learning how to achieve restful sleep while undergoing physical therapy for frozen shoulder is crucial.

As the pain of frozen shoulder can be ongoing, it’s crucial to find comfortable sleeping positions that work effectively. It’s easy to distract yourself from pain during the day, but it can worsen at night. It is important to find ways to sleep comfortably if you cannot visit one of Dr. Allan Oolo-Austin’s renowned World Frozen Shoulder Clinics immediately.

Why Does Frozen Shoulder Pain Get Worse at Night?

The increased pain experienced by frozen shoulder sufferers at night is associated with blood flow issues. During nighttime, the body naturally slows down blood flow and other bodily functions like kidney filtration. 

This reduced blood flow and slower water filtration lead to water retention and increased internal pressure. Inflammatory conditions, including frozen shoulder, are aggravated overnight due to these natural processes. Consequently, the highly pressurized shoulder joint experiences even more painful inflammation, intensifying the discomfort.

Understanding the Intense Pain of Frozen Shoulder

While we provide a more detailed explanation of frozen shoulder symptoms, causes, and treatments here, the condition can be summarized into a few key elements:

Known as adhesive capsulitis, frozen shoulder is characterized by a progressively worsening restriction of motion in the shoulder joint. 

The connective tissue within the shoulder capsule contracts and forms scar tissue, preventing smooth movement of the shoulder bone within its socket. Although several factors can contribute to this condition, the severe and painful sensations in the shoulder joint result in a loss of range of motion, swelling, and stiffness that inhibit restful sleep. Without intervention, frozen shoulder can persist for years.

Optimal Sleep Positions for Frozen Shoulder

When coping with frozen shoulder or shoulder pain, you can try various sleeping positions to achieve quality sleep. However, it is generally recommended to avoid sleeping on your stomach whenever possible, as it places your shoulders in an unstable position that may worsen the condition over time. Instead, consider the following suggestions to find the sleeping position that works best for you:

Lie on the unaffected side

Sleeping on the unaffected side and using a cushion or pillow for support can help alleviate excruciating shoulder pain. However, involuntary movements during sleep can cause accidental rolling over, resulting in a painful awakening.

 Sleep on your back (arms down)

Keep your arms extended straight down at your sides to minimize pressure on the shoulder joints, neck, arms, and shoulders. This promotes ideal spine alignment, relaxation, and the release of built-up strain and tension, allowing your body to heal while you sleep.

Sleep on your back (arms up)

Similar to the previous position, but instead of having your arms extended down your sides, place them under or stretched above your head. Although this position may not be suitable for everyone to maintain throughout the night, 

it relieves pressure on the affected area’s muscles, fibers, and tendons. Adding a pillow under the knees can enhance comfort, but ensure your head remains facing the ceiling to prevent neck strain.

Utilize Pillows & Vary Your Position

Whether you sleep on your side or back, incorporating additional pillows can alleviate shoulder pain associated with frozen shoulder. You could place a pillow on either side to support your elbows, which, in turn, supports your shoulders and reduces pressure, strain, or tension. This setup also helps prevent accidental rolling over during sleep.

Tucking a pillow under your arm can relieve pressure and provide support to the frozen shoulder, keeping it stable throughout the night. A body pillow is also recommended, as it supports the injured shoulder and reduces pressure on various bones and tissues within the affected shoulder capsule. You may want to tuck the body pillow between your knees for additional support. 

It’s always important to ensure that you have a supportive head pillow that maintains proper neck alignment. Keeping your neck and head aligned with your spine can reduce tension in the neck and affected shoulder.

Remember to vary your sleeping positions and find what works best for your body. Each individual is unique, with different mattress firmness, pillow thickness, and preferences. Trying different sleeping positions also helps avoid compression or cramping when consistently sleeping in the same position.

Other Tips To Optimize Sleep Quality

In addition to optimizing your sleeping positions, you can implement other strategies to enhance your sleep quality:

1. Apply heat before bed: Some patients find that applying heat to the shoulder just before sleep helps induce relaxation and deeper sleep.
2. Rest your shoulder throughout the day: Taking time to rest during the day can help reduce inflammation and improve sleep at night.
3. Over-the-counter pain medication and anti-inflammatories: Consult with your healthcare provider about the suitability of medications like ibuprofen or acetaminophen to manage pain and inflammation, enabling more restful sleep.
4. Light stretching: Engage in gentle stretching exercises before bedtime to relax tight muscles and promote relaxation.
5. Stay active during the day: Regular exercise supports blood flow and circulation, aiding healing.

Ultimately, the choice of sleep-enhancing methods or combinations thereof is highly individual. However, it is crucial to avoid accidentally rolling onto the frozen shoulder at night, as this can lead to extreme pain upon awakening.

Eliminate Shoulder Pain at World Frozen Shoulder Clinic

While these tips can help you manage sleep difficulties between diagnosis and treatment, it is crucial not to endure this condition longer than necessary. Several weeks of pain, suffering, and sleep deprivation are more than enough. 

Seek professional treatment to address your frozen shoulder promptly and effectively. 

If you’re living with shoulder pain, request a free consultation with us today!

Categorised in: Blog - World Frozen Shoulder Clinic