Carpal tunnel pain has many causes. Here’s a cause for carpal tunnel pain you probably didn’t think about yet: the way you sleep.
What? Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by sleeping? Here’s how.
Kay said to me, “I don’t remember a lot of the stuff in your carpal tunnel tips booklet, but I remember the part about sleeping on your back to keep your chest open, and I do that. And my wrists do hurt less!”
When we sleep on our sides, our shoulders generally get squashed forward, toward our chest. This position shortens our chest muscles, And, lots of times we have both our arms curled up on our chest, too.
When we sleep all squashed and rolled forward like this, the muscles that attach our chest to our arms tend to get short.
This is not good!
This causes discomfort in the carpal tunnel area – our arms, hands and wrists (along with many others places, like our back.) This can cause carpal tunnel syndrome.
But, opening up and stretching our chest muscles is good. Stretching our arms and legs back (behind) us is good for us. This helps correct and get rid of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Think of a cat, or a dog, or a baby. Think about how they stretch.
All of them stretch long, and open, and outward, away from the centers. They do this every time they wake up or get up from a rest.
And so should we.
Stretching like that is a great way to start getting rid of our carpal tunnel syndrome.
We used to stretch, but we forgot about doing that as we grew up and became shy or self-conscious about calling attention to ourselves.
If you’re still shy about
stretching in front of outer people, you can stretch all you want in private. (“Private” includes the restroom at work, if that is the only private space you have there.)
Let’s get back to sleeping. What are ways we can stop causing carpal tunnel pain?
- You can help the muscles on the front of your body become longer and more open by sleeping on your back. Even if you can only do this for part of the night, you are giving the muscles that cause carpal tunnel syndrome a break.
- Try sleeping with your arms at your sides, thumbs up or palms up. This may feel very strange to you at first because it will be different than you are used to. But, this is very good for your chest and arm muscles. You may even feel your muscles becoming longer!
- If you have a very strong tendency to curl your arms up to your chest, open them as far as you can. Perhaps you can rest your arms near your hips. Or, for a while, you can tuck the edge of your hands under your hips
- Press your shoulders gently back into your mattress. When you press your shoulders back, this strengthens the muscles in your back. Strong back muscles help hold your shoulders where they should be, rather than than letting them roll forward.
- You can place a small, simple neck roll (homemade is perfect) behind your neck, or use the flattest, softest pillow you can sleep with comfortably behind your head. The goal is to support the small healthy curve in your neck while keeping your head as close to the mattress as possible.
When you sleep with your head pushed forward, and also spend most of your day with your head in a forward position, your muscles think that’s where they should stay: short and forward. A “forward head” posture contributes to pain in your carpal tunnel area.
Just as when you are awake, in order to prevent pain in the carpal tunnel area, you need to sleep in the most neutral correct position you can.
Try these sleeping tips tonight.
“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”