Why do you have back and neck aches for days if you “sleep wrong” one night?
In: Biology
Because your muscles have become tense and they hold that tension until released manually or by themselves. It rarely has to do with the nerves and more with the muscles being hypertonic (tight).
In my opinion the only relief comes with trigger point therapy.
Nerves are hardly ever pinched or compressed, especially those of the autonomic nervous system as they are outside of the spine. Those nerves of the central nervous system exiting the spine are almost impossible to pinch in a healthy person. Someone with an irritated nerve experiences weakness or tingling, not inflammation.
The joints of the spine have several structures that can become irritated by “sleep wrong” which may cause prolonged compression and/or torsion on the joint. Typically, the cartilage of the joint can become inflamed from prolonged compression, the joint capsule can become entrapped (pinched) and the structures around the joint can be strained/sprained. These structures can even refer pain to other parts of the body mimicking a pinched nerve.
To protect these irritated structures the body adopts pain-relieving postures and reactive muscle splinting. Both will resolve over time depending upon how much irritation was caused and underlying conditions (arthritis, muscle fatigue, etc).
Over the counter anti-inflammatories, stretching and joint mobilization can all be helpful. The role of ice or heat is debatable but can be tried for whatever relief they provide.
Muscle relaxants are often not helpful as the muscles are not in true spasm but trying to protect the joint.
If the condition worsens or fails to resolve after a week seek professional help.
I was prone to neck muscle pain and even back spasms until I figured out that one major cause was propping my head up too much with pillows when sleeping. It was stretching my neck and upper back muscles for hours at a time while I slept so I’d wake up with problems in those areas and it would last for days. Now I make sure when I sleep my neck is not bent and is in line with my spine and they are MUCH less frequent.
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There are some ways to make this go away rather quickly. When I’m not home sleeping on my memory foam bed with weighted blankets, I take ibuprofen or tylenol with horny goat weed. If it’s bad, I’ll find a gym and do some back and shoulder workouts followed by a warm shower, and it has always gone away afterward.
Generally either because the position you were sleeping in stressed certain muscles and/ or pinched a nerve. But what most likely causes the pain to stay for so long is the fact people avoid moving when they are in pain.
If you want the pain to go away you have to almost teach your body that it is ok to move the affected area.
So I’m no expert but I have Fibromyalgia/chronic pain so I kinda understand the experience closely. My pain is mostly muscular, so assuming what you’re describing is also muscular, here’s how I think about it:
When I sleep in a non-neutral position, it either over stretches or contracts a muscle for extended periods of time. My body “thinks” there is damage being done, and tenses the area to protect the body. The creates long lasting tension or even a spasm that has to be released.
Probably the pain lasts for a few days then goes away because it eventually works itself out and the tension releases. In my case that rarely happens on its own so I have to do a lot of stretching and self massage to get things unclenched. Obviously you can do that too. Sometimes taking magnesium can help too, in addition to anti-inflammatoires like ibuprofen.
Also everything in your body is connected so sometimes you have to release and stretch other area to feel relief in the area that actually hurts. This is where a physical therapist or someone who understands body mechanics is helpful if you have nagging pain you can’t figure out on your own.
EDIT: genuinely curious why I’m getting downvoted. Because I’m not an expert or I presented something incorrectly?
Most likely because you are getting old. A few years ago I had to train myself to only sleep on my back. It was a challenge, but has really helped with neck and shoulder pain.
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Injuries take longer to heal than they take to cause. Breaking your leg only takes a second but will take months to heal. Same concept but with the muscles and nerves in your neck, it may only take one night of bad sleep to hurt them but it will takes days to feel better.
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