Laying on your back creates the least amount of pressure. Just by standing straight you put 4 times the amount of pressure on your lower back as compared to laying on your back. And bending forward while standing will increase the pressure on your lower back by another 50% as compared to standing straight.
The best position to avoid back pain is lying flat on your back. Even so, many people find it the hardest way to enjoy deep sleep. For optimal spine alignment, place one pillow underneath your head or neck and another underneath your knees.
Even laying on your side is appreciably more stress than laying flat. At the other end of the spectrum, sitting while leaning forward and lifting weight puts the most strain across your back. When dealing with significant lower back pain, keep this in mind.
"There have been some studies that measured the amount of pressure on the discs," says Dr. Atlas. "Not surprisingly, the pressure is lowest when you're lying down." But there is more pressure on the discs when you're sitting than when you're standing.
Walking or standing for long periods of time puts pressure on your lower back. If you are standing a lot at a high-demand job, your back muscles may tense; thus, increasing the pain. Poor posture. Having poor posture for many years will affect the anatomy of your spine.
Intervertebral discs wear down and lose their ability to cushion the vertebrae. Discs can also become herniated or ruptured, causing a bulging disc that may compress spinal nerves and cause pain. The nerves may get more compressed when sitting, making back pain worse when lying down or sitting.
Low back pain that gets worse with sitting may indicate a herniated lumbar disc (one of the discs in the lower part of the back).
If you sleep on your side, draw your legs up slightly toward your chest and put a pillow between your legs. Flexing your knees and having a pillow between your legs can help align your spine, pelvis and hips. This position takes pressure off your spine. Use a full-length body pillow if you prefer.
Your neutral spine
In your neutral position, your lower belly should be flat – you can feel this with your hands – and there should be a curve in your lower spine. For most people, this curve will be only a small gap between their back and the mat – just enough for a breath of air to pass under their lower back.
The main symptoms of spondylolisthesis include: pain in your lower back, often worse when standing or walking and relieved when sitting or bending forward.
That posture stretches out the ligaments, including the back part of the discs which causes pain and injury. If you have sciatica because of a bulging or herniated a disc, this posture can make it worse. The flexed posture combined with the compression force of sitting can compress and irritate your sciatic nerve.
In general, osteoarthritis (the most common type of arthritis) and degenerative disk disease (the natural wear and tear of spinal disks) are the underlying cause of many types of chronic lower back pain. However, lower back pain can also be caused by accident-related trauma and acute stress.
If you oversleep on a bad mattress, your body will be exposed to uncomfortable sleeping conditions for a longer period. This can affect the natural curve of your spine and lead to back pain. Laying on your back for long periods can cause the muscles that support the normal curvature of your back to become fatigued.
Nocturnal back pain can be a symptom of spinal tumors. It could be a primary tumor, one that originates in the spine, or it could be a metastatic tumor, one that results from cancer that started elsewhere in the body and then spread to the spine.
If you need to be horizontal, lie down on a bed or sofa, in any comfortable position. To ease the strain on your back, try putting pillows under your head and between your knees when lying on your side, under your knees when lying on your back, or under your hips when lying on your stomach.
Prolonged walking or standing can tire or strain the muscles in the lower back and legs, which can lead to aches and pains. This pain or discomfort usually gets better with sitting or lying down to rest the back.
Specifically, sleeping on the side or back is considered more beneficial than sleeping on the stomach. In either of these sleep positions, it's easier to keep your spine supported and balanced, which relieves pressure on the spine and enables your muscles to relax and recover.
The best sleep position to keep your spine neutral is on the back. When you sleep on your back, place a pillow under your knees and a little roll underneath the small of your neck. The pillows will help you maintain the natural curves of the spine.
While research is limited, anecdotal reports show that sleeping without a pillow can help reduce neck and back pain for some sleepers. Stomach sleepers are generally best suited for going pillowless, because the lower angle of the neck encourages better spinal alignment in this position.