Is your back pain ruining your sleep?
Matt Richards, APA Pain Physiotherapist, PhD candidate
For some time, health professionals have observed that back pain and poor sleep are two common problems that threaten your good health. But just what is the relationship between the two?
The research suggests that back pain results in a longer time to fall asleep, reduced sleep duration and poorer sleep quality. This has a roll-on effect to poor daytime function and greater dissatisfaction and distress around sleep (Kelly 2011). A recent systematic review also suggests that poor sleep may have an adverse effect on back pain (Amiri and Behnezhad 2020) with a 1.5 times greater chance of having back pain if you suffer sleep disturbances.
Untangling cause and effect in clinical research can be challenging, but what this research shows is that for preventing and treating back pain, consideration of sleep is likely to be important.
If you are having difficulty with sleep and back pain, ask yourself these questions regarding your sleep habits (Nijs 2018):
So, the takeaway here is that reviewing and improving your sleep habits (also called sleep hygiene) may help prevent and treat back pain. To chat with one of our health professionals about how improving your sleep may be worthwhile for your overall health and wellbeing, click below to book online!
https://bookings.nookal.com/bookings/location/KMYFB
References
Amiri S, Behnezhad S. Sleep disturbances and back pain: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuropsychiatry. 2020 Jun;34(2):74-84.
Kelly GA, Blake C, Power CK, O'keeffe D, Fullen BM. The association between chronic low back pain and sleep: a systematic review. Clinical Journal of Pain. 2011 Feb;27(2):169-81
Nijs J, Mairesse O, Neu D, Leysen L, Danneels L, Cagnie B, Meeus M, Moens M, Ickmans K, Goubert D. Sleep Disturbances in Chronic Pain: Neurobiology, Assessment, and Treatment in Physical Therapist Practice. Physical Therapy. 2018 May 1;98(5):325-335.
Matthew Richards (BPhysio, MAPA) is an APA Pain Physiotherapist who has been working with Advance since 2007. He is the Team Leader of our Pain Management program at Bundoora and is close to completing his PhD on treatment for back pain patients with complex psychosocial and neurophysiological barriers to recovery.