Shoulder pain commonly interferes with sleep. Inflammation often worsens at night. Or, the pain may suddenly flare up when lying on your side, and body pressure aggravates a shoulder problem.
Even if you lie on your back (usually the best position for avoiding shoulder pain), you could sleep with your arm in a position that stresses the joint.
If shoulder pain disrupts sleep, Cascade Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Center, P.C., can help. Our team offers comprehensive shoulder care, identifying the reason for your pain and providing treatments that ease pain and help the shoulder heal.
Any shoulder condition could cause enough pain to affect your sleep. However, these are the six problems most likely to bother you at night:
Rotator cuff injuries are notorious for causing pain if you lie on your side when sleeping. Most rotator cuff injuries involve a partial or complete tear in one of the tendons, often due to overuse, wear-and-tear degeneration, or an accident.
Rotator cuff problems often develop slowly, causing pain that increases gradually. One of the first signs of a worsening rotator cuff injury is pain when lying on the shoulder at night. Rotator cuff injuries also make it hard to lift or use your arm.
Bursa are tiny sacs filled with a thick fluid. The sacs are located between bones and soft tissues and promote smooth movement by lubricating the joint and reducing friction.
If a bursa is irritated (often due to excessive shoulder movement or an inflamed or torn rotator cuff tendon), excess fluid builds up inside the sac, and inflammation develops. That’s when you have bursitis.
In addition to causing nighttime pain (when lying on the affected side), shoulder bursitis may cause swelling, shoulder stiffness, and limited movement.
Two tendons attach the biceps muscle to the shoulder bone. Biceps tendonitis occurs when repetitive movement or an injury leads to inflammation in one or both. Biceps tendonitis typically causes pain in the front of your shoulder that feels worse at night.
Did you know the shoulder is the third most common joint affected by osteoarthritis (after knees and hips)? As cartilage protecting the bones wears down, the exposed bone erodes, inflammation develops, and you experience pain and limited movement.
Sleeping on your side aggravates the inflamed and damaged joint, causing enough pain to wake you and prevent you from getting a restful sleep.
Shoulder impingement develops when the rotator cuff tendons rub against the bone, irritating the tissues and causing inflammation.
This condition gradually worsens, causing severe pain at night that interrupts your sleep. You may also lose shoulder strength and have difficulty using your arm.
Connective tissues surround the shoulder joint, creating a capsule that stabilizes the joint. A frozen shoulder develops when the capsule stiffens, thickens, and gets inflamed.
Over time, the capsule gets so tight you can’t move the shoulder. Like the other conditions in this list, a frozen shoulder typically hurts more at night and worsens if you sleep on the affected side.
Don't wait to seek help if you wake up with shoulder pain or have symptoms of a shoulder injury. Continuing to use an injured shoulder can aggravate and worsen the problem.
Call the nearest Cascade Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Center, P.C. office in Hood River or The Dalles, Oregon, or connect online today to request an evaluation, get shoulder pain relief, and get a good night’s rest.
