Sleeping with Sciatica

Sleeping with sciatica is a wonderful time of the day for some patients, but a stressful and painful event for others. Sciatica symptoms are known for their incredible diversity and every patient seems to have their own individual symptomatic profile. Sciatica is rarely logical and for those poor suffering people who can not even get a night’s rest due to their lower back and leg pain, the condition proves just how unpredictable it can truly be.

Sleeping with Sciatica Relief

Most sciatica patients enjoy a symptomatic respite after lying down to rest. The reclined position eliminates pressure on the spine and generally creates a relaxed mind and body, less likely to feel pain. Some patients find that they must sleep in a certain position or with a pillow in between their legs to find comfort. Other patients are very picky about what type of mattress they sleep on. If it is too soft or too hard, they will likely suffer an acute bout of sciatic nerve pain in the morning… if they make it till morning without pain that is!

Clinically, reclining should relieve sciatica symptoms, since the usual diagnosis of sciatica involves placing the blame on a structural spinal abnormality, such as a herniated disc or osteoarthritic condition. It is well known that reclining allows the spine to decompress and the intervertebral discs actually gain height as we sleep. We are all a bit taller every morning than we are when we go to bed at night…

Not Sleeping with Sciatica

Despite the illogical notion, many patients find their pain worsens the moment they try to relax and sleep. They become acutely aware of the symptoms coursing through their lower limbs and might even experience severe sciatica spasms in their legs and lower back, resembling a tremendous charley horse.

These patients are particularly affected by their pain, since their bodies and minds are not allowed to rest peacefully and recover from the day’s misery. Their pain becomes cumulative and they become progressively more desperate to find relief. This is truly a living hell with no end in sight…

Advice on Sleeping with Sciatica

Patients who get relief when lying down are typical and should be happy. However, if you are convinced that you need that special mattress or pillow or require sleeping in a certain position, then you have certainly been conditioned by your pain. This is a typical response to long term symptoms and is a prime perpetuator of the condition. Knowledge therapy is advised, regardless of whether the cause is indeed structural or more likely, ischemic.

Patients who can not sleep due to their increased sciatic activity at night are very likely to be suffering from psychosomatic sciatica conditions. Do not be alarmed by this pronouncement, since the vast majority of chronic sciatica conditions are indeed caused by psychologically induced ischemia, rather than any physical pinched nerve condition in the spine. In these cases, knowledge therapy is a must…

You can hold on to those little pillows all you want. You can sleep only on your right side, in the fetal position. You can insist on placing that board under your mattress for increased support. None of these things will actually make you feel better physically… They will merely help to feed that psychosomatic monster which is trying so hard to keep your attention focused on your body… focused on your pain…

Sleeping with Sciatica to Sciatica Home
11/11/08 Revised 12/18/09