After a good night’s sleep, you expect your body to feel rested, restored, and ready to start a new day. What you don’t expect is to wake up with a sore shoulder joint — and you especially don’t expect to face this same perplexing problem as you greet each day.
There are many possible reasons you might be waking with an achy shoulder every morning, ranging from repetitive use inflammation and age-related joint degeneration to poor sleep posture. If sleep position changes don’t ease the problem, it may be time to seek the expert evaluation and care of a board-certified orthopedist.
Here, our skilled team at Sports Medicine Oregon discusses the most likely cause of shoulder pain upon waking, and explains when it’s a good idea to seek professional help.
Unilateral shoulder pain is frequently associated with sleep positions that place increased strain or pressure on the shoulder joint and/or its supporting structures. Two of the most common sleep positions that can lead to morning shoulder pain are:
Sleeping on your side places the entirety of your torso’s entire weight on your shoulder joint. This position creates a constant compression force between your upper arm bone (humerus) and the “cup” of your shoulder (glenoid). It can also irritate the fluid-filled sacs (bursae) that cushion the bones of your shoulder joint, causing bursitis-related inflammation and pain.
Sleeping with your elbow above your head can also make morning shoulder pain more likely. When your relaxed arm is in this position for a prolonged amount of time, your rotator cuff tendons and sensitive bursae can become pinched between the cup of your shoulder and your upper arm bone.
Besides causing morning shoulder pain, these habitual sleep positions can cause damage to the shoulder structures that are routinely being strained, pinched, or inflamed.
If you don’t have a stiff, achy shoulder during the day — but you routinely wake up with one each morning after a full night’s rest — chances are your recurrent pain is somehow related to your sleep position. You may also experience:
When poor sleep positioning is the primary cause of morning shoulder pain, a change of sleep position is often all it takes to reverse the problem in short order.
The best sleep position for your shoulders? A supine one — or lying flat on your back. Your pillow should be just high enough to support your head without causing an uncomfortable bend in your neck, and shouldn’t be under your shoulders. It’s also helpful to gently stretch out your shoulders before you go to bed as well as when you get up in the morning.
When morning shoulder pain doesn’t diminish or disappear after a week or two of beneficial sleep position changes, it may be a sign of an underlying shoulder injury or condition — one that was either caused by poor sleep positioning, or one that was exacerbated by it.
For example, bursitis-related inflammation and pain can be a direct consequence of ongoing side sleeping that puts pressure on your shoulder joint. Likewise, it may be a product of an emerging overuse injury that becomes aggravated when you sleep on your side at night, thus making your joint feel sore in the morning.
The bottom line? If sleep changes and shoulder stretches don’t improve your morning shoulder pain, it’s a good idea to have our team evaluate the problem. This early morning pain may be just the first time you’re noticing an emerging problem, such as:
Are you experiencing unexplained shoulder pain every morning? We can help you figure out why — and find the right way to alleviate the problem. Call or click online to schedule a visit at Sports Medicine Oregon in Tigard or Wilsonville, Oregon, today.
