Back Pain in the Morning: What Could It Mean?

Ideally, you wake up from a night’s sleep feeling refreshed and ready to start your day. However, that’s not always the case. Sometimes, you sleep in the wrong position and wake up with a stiff neck. Other times, you have nightmares that startle you awake. We all have nights when sleep doesn’t go well.

However, if you regularly wake up with back pain, you shouldn’t write it off as normal. That discomfort is your body telling you that something’s wrong.

We can help you discover what’s to blame. At our office in Beverly Grove, Los Angeles, California, Patrick S Hill, MD, specializes in treating back pain. As an expert in this discomfort, he uses a range of diagnostic tools to figure out why you’re having persistent pain.

Before you visit our office, there are some things you can explore on your own to alleviate your morning back pain. The most common causes of this issue are:

Poor sleep position

You might wake up with back pain because your spine isn’t getting the support it needs during the night. Ideally, you should sleep on your side with a pillow or blanket between your legs. This position best allows your spine to maintain its natural curvature.

The worst position for back pain is stomach sleeping. Sleeping on your stomach twists your cervical spine (the uppermost portion). To minimize that potentially aggravating twisting, don’t use a head pillow when you sleep on your stomach.

If you sleep on your back, putting a pillow under your knees can support your spine throughout the night.

Unsupportive mattress

While your sleep posture plays a role in how your spine feels in the morning, an unsupportive mattress might be allowing your spine to move into less-than-ideal positions.

Replace your mattress once a decade, although the exact timing depends on the type of mattress you have and the quality of its materials.

If you’re due for a new mattress, have some back support criteria in mind as you shop for your replacement.

A back condition

If changing your sleep position and mattress doesn’t soothe your morning back pain, something else could be at play. Your discomfort upon waking could be due to a back condition like: