Friday, July 10, 2009

FORGET THE SHEEP

here is a sleeping tip courtesy of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Good sleeping posture allows the body to follow the natural S-shape curve of the spine. Here's advice on protecting your neck and back while you sleep.

Lying in certain positions while you sleep can throw the spine out of alignment; for example, sleeping on your stomach puts stress on your neck and exaggerates the curve of the lower back. A better choice that helps maintain the natural curves of your spine is to sleep on your side with your knees bent and a pillow placed between.

Another option is to sleep on your back, but keep your knees slightly raised by placing a pillow underneath them. This prevents your lower back from overarching by supporting the weight of your extended legs. If you can't break the habit of sleeping on your stomach, place a pillow underneath your abdomen to keep your spine aligned. If you have neck pain, consider using a neck support pillow.

A recent study in the Journal of Rheumatology found that individuals with chronic neck pain who slept with a neck support pillow and performed simple isometric neck exercises (see below) five to 10 minutes a day reported significant improvement in their symptoms. However, use of heat or cold packs with gentle massage, exercise alone, or the neck pillow alone was not as effective.

Another benefit from combination treatment: Those who used both the neck pillow and the exercises continued to feel better up to one year later. If you're interested in such a regimen, ask your doctor to refer you to a physical therapist who can teach you the exercises and the appropriate way to use a neck pillow during sleep.

Isometric Neck Exercise:
Here's an example of an isometric exercise for the neck: Tilt your head to the right while applying resistance with your right hand. Hold for 20 seconds. Repeat on the left side, then do the same exercise, tilting your head first forward and then backward.

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