Hello!
Welcome to the Pain and Simple Blog, the place where complex issues get simple answers. My name is Dr. Kelli Wilson PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT and I am a physical therapist that specializes in the whole body. I am a musculoskeletal expert. I am a detective. I see things that we are all guilty of doing each and every day that can cause pain.
Technology has made great strides in assisting us with medical diagnoses, but sometimes it has convoluted what the main issue is and why certain pain patterns are happening. Too many tests can give an umbrella diagnosis. Sometimes there are simple answers.
I urge you to go with me on this journey of exploration and explanation of resolving pain with simple advice and changes in your daily life. Each blog I plan on sharing simple approaches that you can easily incorporate into your life to make you feel better!
I decided my very first blog should be what I preach the most to my patients in the clinic. I say this to each and every patient the first day they come in.
I used to initiate exercises to implement strengthening to the muscles. But in the clinic, I have had more success with discussing postural habits. Think about what position you hold the longest throughout the day.
Guess.
No…..not at your desk at work.
Nope…..not your recliner at home.
For the majority of us, it would be our sleeping position in bed.
Joints move the pathway of least resistance. If you sleep on the same side with the same top leg bent every night, there are going to be structural changes.
Go with me on this tangent….you are a left sided sleeper that sleeps with two pillows in a somewhat fetal position with your top leg bent. I find that people that sleep like this have difficulty turning their head to the left or bringing their ear to their left shoulder or at least have loss of motion when compared to the right side. You will have tightness all along the mid-back, the thoracic spine, from sleeping in a forward flexed position all night, and you will have annoying pressure along the right low back. The pain to the low back won’t even be pain per se, but an annoying, nagging pressure that causes you discomfort while you sit.
Everyone is different and I am not funneling everyone into this category. I am simply sharing what I see in the clinic.
What if you are reading this and are in total agreement? Here is my advice.
Change your sleeping posture. Change the side you sleep on. If you sleep with your partner, spouse, or co-sleep with your young children switch which side of the bed you sleep on. You will need to stop sleeping in the fetal position. Try to go to the sleep with your mid-back straight and not curved. Sleep with your knees together. They can be straight or flexed, as long as they are together.
It takes 3 months to change a habit. You will wake up in the wrong position or your “normal” position. It’s ok. It will take 2-3 weeks to get used to your new position. Just be diligent and move into your new “correct” position whenever you find yourself in the bad position. It will get easier.
If you cannot fathom sleeping with your knees together, put a pillow between your knees. 
Bed, Bath, and Beyond have a great hourglass pillow that is inexpensive and really quite comfortable.
Try to make these changes and I promise you…you will be better off in the near future and many years to come!
I look forward to meeting with you every other week.
Here is my personal favorite story pertaining to sleeping from 1996:
When I was a Sophmore in high school, my Mom woke me up in the middle of the night saying a man had broken into our house. We escaped through my bedroom window which had roses inconveniently planted outside of it to keep me from sneaking out (which by the way Mom….I never did sneak out). After calling the police from a pay phone, we were waiting on our street corner and I asked my Mom, “What happened? How were you able to get to me?” While I am trying to forget I am about to wet my pants, she calmly said she heard him come into her room rustling around. But then he must have gotten tired and laid down with her in her BED! She then “acted” like she needed to go to the bathroom and came and got me. Many questions ran through my head…..why would he lie down, how did she crawl over him since she would have been closer to the wall, how did she act like she had to go to the bathroom? I quickly figured out she had been dreaming, and so did the police.