For the average person falling asleep should typically take between 10 to 20 minutes. However, patients with scoliosis will twist and turn until they can manage to find a comfortable position. Often, they fall asleep from mere exhaustion, and they don’t get the proper sleep like the average person. This is especially challenging when you’re dealing with children and adolescents with scoliosis, that need their sleep to grow properly. Kids not getting enough sleep may result in them facing academic problems, behavioral problems, higher levels of anxiety, and mood related problems. If we can only get boys and girls with scoliosis to sleep a bit better, it may prove to be a real game changer in their daily lives. In this article, we will discuss some ideas to help patients with scoliosis sleep better.

Why do people with scoliosis have a hard time sleeping?

Most human beings will spend 10 to 20 minutes to find the optimal position until they can finally fall asleep. Throughout the rest of the night, they may twist and turn, but in general they are getting a good night’s rest. Some will sleep on their side while others may sleep on their back. Each will go about to find the most comfortable position to rest their bones and muscles for the next day. Patients with scoliosis tend to have a hard time falling asleep due to their abnormal curve of the spine. The spine functions as a support for the body’s structural makeup, and if the spinal curvature is greater than 50 degrees, it can greatly impact their sleeping habits. Proper positioning is key to getting into a deep slumber. Frequently, these individuals simply cannot get into a position which they are comfortable with, making it highly challenging to fall asleep.      

Poor sleeping positions won’t make your condition worse, but it may make your scoliosis symptoms worse. This may include uneven shoulders and/or hips, bump in the lower back, numbness, weakness, or pain in the legs, trouble walking, trouble standing up straight, tired feeling, shortness of breath, and loss of height. As scoliosis symptoms in children worsen so will their quality of life. The objective of every scoliosis parent is to relieve the symptoms and allow the child to live as normal of a life as possible. The right sleeping position can greatly impact painful flare ups for scoliosis patients.

Melatonin deficiencies in those with scoliosis

In a medical journal published in December 2007, titled “Melatonin the “light of night” in human biology and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis”, it talks about melatonin deficiencies in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). The human body naturally produces the hormone melatonin, in the pineal gland located behind the third cerebral ventricle in the brain midline. When the body is getting ready to retire for the night, the pineal gland will give off the perfect amount of melatonin, making it easier for us to fall asleep. Though there are no definitive results of melatonin deficiencies in humans with scoliosis, there is proof to this in a study done with pinealectomized chickens. Dr. Masafumi Machida, found that the chickens developed scoliosis when there was a decrease in melatonin production. In a study done with 10 adolescents, 5 with progressive curves and 5 with a normal spinal curvature, the melatonin deficiency seemed to be the same, not proving the hypothesis correct, that patients with AIS have melatonin deficiencies.

Should I give a melatonin supplement to my child with scoliosis before bed?

Let’s assume the study is correct, that adolescent idiopathic scoliosis causes melatonin deficiencies, the perfect solution would be to increase their melatonin levels via a supplement. However, giving your child melatonin can impact your child’s hormone levels and lead to negative side effects as they get older. According to the Mayo Clinic, melatonin is safe for short-term use only. As per a child with scoliosis symptoms, you don’t want it to become a regular supplement for them. In addition, though melatonin supplements may possibly be safe for short-term use, it is still not approved for use in children by the FDA.

Creating a cozy environment for sleeping

There are some things which you can do with absolutely no side effects to make it easier for your child to fall asleep. Parents can work on making the child’s room the most peaceful environment possible. You don’t have to break the bank by redecorating. We are talking about simple things like a themed bedding set with your child’s favorite colors or a sound machine with soothing ocean waves. Even older children tend to get very attached to blankets and these are proven to be very therapeutic. Whatever calms a child with scoliosis down, can make the sleeping environment a bit more peaceful.

Back to sleep will give you the proper support for scoliosis

Did you ever hear of the campaign introduced in 1994 called  “Back to Sleep”? It was a campaign introduced to get babies to start sleeping on their backs and not their stomachs. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) said that putting a baby “Back to Sleep” would reduce the risk for SIDS. As per scoliosis patients, sleeping on their stomachs is not dangerous but it will worsen scoliosis symptoms. Sleeping on your stomach is very bad. It causes the middle and lower sections of the spine to contract which can twist your neck and cause tremendous amounts of pain and discomfort. Therefore, it’s recommended for all children with scoliosis to train them to go “Back to Sleep”. The curved spine will get the much-needed support it needs during the night’s rest. 

Sleeping on your side with scoliosis

Though it’s not as bad as sleeping on your stomach, sleeping on your side can cause discomfort to your neck, shoulders, and pelvis. It’s difficult for people, especially children to change their sleeping habits, and parents need to encourage spine supportive sleeping. It’s challenging to live with scoliosis but the last thing you want is to make the symptoms worse by sleeping 8+ hours in a position which can cause painful flare ups during the day. It’s for this reason that scoliosis specialists recommend sleeping on your back.

Try and train yourself to sleeping on your back

Work on changing your sleeping position by using some tricks and perhaps even getting a bit creative. Supporting your body with pillows on all sides might do the trick. This will give you the sensation of having side support as if you were sleeping on your side. There are a variety of different shape pillows like “J” and “C”. Patients with scoliosis need to find a pillow which gives the curved area on the spine extra support to relieve any extra added pressure. Lumber rolls can help support your spine in its natural position. This will provide additional curvature in the neck which is very much needed for scoliosis patients.

Sleeping with a scoliosis brace

Scoliosis therapists will typically want patients to wear a brace for 21 hours in a day. That means those who wear the Rigo-Chêneau Brace will have to sleep with it. What’s good about this brace is that boys and girls who wear it will get used to it after a week or so. Each scoliosis brace is custom fit and is designed to provide optimal comfort throughout the day and night. Some adolescents will fight their parents about wearing the WCR brace to sleep but parents must convince them at all cost to wear it according to the scoliosis therapist guidelines.

Choosing a mattress for scoliosis

Selecting the right type of mattress for patients with scoliosis is key to how they will sleep. There are about a thousand different mattresses on the market each claiming to be the best for scoliosis. It’s important that the mattress supports the spine. Memory foam is not recommended, as it allows the body to sink in which contracts the spine, not allowing it to get the proper support it needs. Whatever mattress you choose it must provide support to the area of the spine which needs it most. Depending on where the scoliosis exists will determine where the mattress support is needed most. Patients with scoliosis at the lumbar region will need proper mattress support in the lower area of the back. Patients with scoliosis at the thoracic region will need proper mattress support in the upper area of the back. For those with scoliosis, a firm mattress is typically better than a soft one.

Final Words

Sleeping can be very difficult for patients with scoliosis and parents need to try to improve the sleep conditions as much as possible. Whether it’s a specific pillow or mattress, it might just make the difference in getting a good night’s rest. Always provide support to the area of the spine where the scoliosis exists. It’s painful and we need to be understanding of our children with scoliosis. It may interfere with their looks and sleeping habits, but we have to be thankful that it can be fixed. Stay strong and sleep well.

Look at their backs, is it scoliosis or just plain bad posture? Let’s find out.

Hello out there, all you home-bound moms dads and kids. How’s it going? By now I hope you are settled into more or less of a routine. If you have decent weather, I hope your kids are bike riding around town (if permitted in your town) and keeping active in your driveway (if you have one) or on the roof of your building (if you have a fence) or playing tennis and jumping rope.

After the school teleconferences (not parents but students) are done, I have a feeling your kids will be at their devices and computers, playing games, texting or whatever communication app they use.

This is a good time to check each one of your family members for questionable back posture. It used to be called, nerd neck, scholar’s neck or reading neck. To keep up with technology the latest term for the slanting of the neck forward is, tech neck. The human head weighs approximately ten to twelve pounds. If you tilt your head just fifteen degrees forward, the weight of the head can feel as if you are carrying up to twenty-seven pounds. With a tilt of thirty degrees the weight can feel like forty pounds affecting the spine with this additional weight. If the person has a severe type of this forward neck condition with a tilt of sixty degrees where the chin touches the chest, then the weight will increase to up to sixty pounds. The spine can feel as if it is collapsing, causing lower back pain. That’s not all, the knees will begin to hurt, and the pain descends to the ankles as well.

Forward head posture

Forward head posture is defined as the forward leaning of the skull of more than an inch over the first vertebra of the neck. This causes the joints and muscles in front of the neck to become weak and at the same time tightening the muscles of the upper back and shoulders.

Rounding of the shoulders is a change that occurs when there is too much pressure on the tissues, nerves and muscles of the neck and shoulders. This can cause headaches and dizziness as well as misalignment and pain in every joint of the body. In order for the human body to compensate for this abnormal posture, the balance of the controls of the body is altered causing balance problems and increase in the risk of accidents.

Computers and Cell Phone Postures

For older kids and adults using a computer monitor, the problem of forward neck is easier to resolve than cell phone forward neck posture. In fact, you can watch other colleagues in the office to see how they sit in front of their computers. The natural tendency of a computer user is to lean forward against the desk as they hold the mouse in their hand. Sitting at a computer for an extended period, can cause strain to various muscles. In order to avoid pain and neck issues, the neck must remain in a neutral and relaxed position. This can be accomplished by making sure that the upper third of the computer screen is at eye level and that the monitor should be a safe eighteen to twenty inches away from the face. If a person feels their head poking forward, he should become attuned to bringing it back to neutral position. This is not such a difficult habit to become accustomed to.

With tech neck, solutions are more challenging. Children who develop bad posture can cause long term negative effects to their neck, back and spine. In fact, the digestive organs as well become compressed and food cannot be digested efficiently. Heart disease and varicose veins are dangerous side effects of bad posture. The spinal cord can change shape causing lots of pain and balance issues.

Researchers have noticed that there is an increasing amount of doctor visits by children experiencing chronic back pain and they attribute this problem to the increase in cell phone use.

Slouching when using a mobile device can be habit forming. This form of sitting can be shifted to the classroom and dinner table especially if the child is eating alone and will be using the device at the table. But, even without the device in front of the child, the bad habit of slouching can become easily predominant. What happens is, that when the child bends over the phone, iPad or tablet, the angle of the head puts more strains on the other muscles and ligaments of the neck.

Some helpful hints to avoid tech neck syndrome

1) Of course, the best advice is to get your children off the couches, beds and floor and start moving. With warmer weather on the horizon, the kids should shift to the outdoors and use their free time to play non – contact sports (till this virus blows over) like tennis, biking, and rollerblading. In bad weather, dancing and exercise are good subs when indoors.

2) Have the child sit up straight while using a device by purchasing a special holder for the child to use to avoid slouching.

3) Have your child stop every few minutes while texting to raise and stretch their arms above their heads.

4) Use the right pillow that will support the natural curve of the neck. Using more than one pillow is detrimental and increases forward neck syndrome. The pillow should not be too stiff or too high.

5) While elevating your monitor, as mentioned previously, choose a chair height that allows the person’s feet to be firmly planted on the floor. The desk should be able to allow the forearms to be parallel to the floor as the shoulders relax.

6) Neck exercises are very important to improve posture and strengthen muscles.

• Turn the head to the left while feeling a stretch. Hold this position for five seconds. Then do the same to the right. Bring the head back to the neutral position.
• Stretch your chin forward till you feel the stretch in your neck. Hold this position for five seconds. Pull your chin into a neutral position.
• Tilt the head toward the left shoulder and feel the stretch. Hold for five second then repeat on the right side.
• Tuck your chin in by using two fingers of one hand. Put the other hand on the back of your head and apply light pressure down as you pull your head towards the chest.
• When you feel the stretch at the back of the neck, hold the position for about 25 seconds. This stretch should be repeated three times.
• To open the tightened chest and shoulders, do the open doorway stretch. Hold on to the doorway with your elbows and hands in line with the doorway. Each hand should be at a right angle. Move through the door at a slow pace until you feel a stretch. Keep this position for about twenty-five seconds before going back to the original starting position. Repeat two or three times. Make sure you do not arch your lower back while doing the open door stretch.
• The shoulder blade squeeze while sitting on a chair with a back is quite an effective exercise to activate and strengthen the lower and mid back. Sit down in a chair and position the feet and knees to be slightly wider than the hips. Tuck in the chin and raise your chest up to allow the spine to be in a neutral position. Put down both of your arms at your sides. Bring each arm to the back of the chair and rotate them so that the thumbs are pointing backwards. Hold this position for about ten seconds and then release. Repeat ten times for two or three sets.
• This next exercise is for an upper body stretch. While standing, place the hand on the opposite side of your head. Bring the head down towards the shoulder. Use the overhead hand to press your neck down gently in order to get a deep stretch. Hold this position for twenty to thirty seconds for two to three sets.

Conclusion

Scoliosis is a specific type of curvature of the spine. Scoliosis is defined as a curvature of the spine that bends sideways. When you are looking at the back of a person with scoliosis, the spine curves slightly to the right. There is also a spinal condition like scoliosis which is called lordosis. This is when the spine is bending forward.

In case, your child is not responding positively to the call for exercise and you are still bothered by his or her posture, it is probably time to see a scoliosis specialist. Chances are your child will need some extra physical therapy specifically geared to a tech neck. It may be lordosis, scoliosis or just plain slouching. Whatever it is, it needs to be taken care of promptly. Sometimes kids listen to us and sometimes they don’t. That’s when the experts come in very handy.