Pelvic Health and Sleep Positions

I’ve been doing a deep dive into sleep positions this month! Many of us can wake up with hip and back pain from just sleeping. What’s happening here? Some of this might be funky positioning on tender pressure points throughout the night. Sleep is vulnerable, and many of us seek extra sensory input that might be helpful for our nervous systems but not for our posture.

I love this video from Melissa Koehl/Chimera PT on sleep positions (she also has great hypermobile online programming BTW!). Do NOT be afraid to use pillows, pillows, and more pillows. 

I’ve been using this product and have been really enjoying it. I move a lot in my sleep, so having  the little strap to keep the pillow in place is lovely.

There’s also this product that’s way more expensive but looks dreamy. And of course, you can always use a good ol fashioned pregnancy pillow, pregnant or not. 

Sometimes I’ll also suggest a rolled up small towel underneath your bottom hip to alleviate compression. 

Additionally for side sleepers, if you can’t do a pillow between your knees, I often advise gently hooking your top foot behind your calf. This alleviates some pressure on the hips and prevents more of the rolling forward position that creates tension in a lot of bodies. 

If you want to challenge your body more, Katy Bowman has a lot to say about sleep positions. I will never forget the title of this blog article: Your Pillow is an Orthotic  (WOW, rude!) and here’s an article about transitioning out of a mattress. I appreciate her point, that fluffy mattresses and pillows don’t allow our bodies to move in natural ways that might create more mobility and strength throughout our lives. But I do think some of us really can benefit from more support to create more alignment and ease in our joints as we sleep.