Hi All,

I've been trying to 'train' myself to sleep on my back -- but I haven't been successful. I am always waking up on my side or stomach.

Does anyone have any advice?

Would really appreciate it....

I feel your pain on this one... life long side sleeper! After my surgery I got a reading pillow (looks like a mini arm chair) and the arms on each side helped to bolster me in and kept me slightly propped up which made it harder to roll in my sleep. I also put a regular pillow on the side I was most likely to roll onto and one under my knees to help support my low back. With all of that I was able to sleep on my back and if I did try to roll the pillows caught me and kept my weight from landing on my arm.

I also found this video about sleeping with TOS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C2-7Fk57vY

This may or may not be good advice.

I always slept on my stomach, until I started "working out." Namely, doing pull down lats MADE ME SLEEP ON MY BACK. I think pull down lats are OK to do when you have TOS. I did 3 sets a day / twice a week. Ever since I did those, I sleep on my back now.

Why would that work??

it pulled down my upper back muscles and just sort of clicked my body in place better - so much so that only on my back was a comfortable place to sleep.

i had always been a stomach sleeper before. i do not know why it worked but it did. i never set out for it to work, it was something i stumbled on. wasn't even trying to sleep on my back at the time. not saying it will work for anyone but it did for me.

So, I have decided to try this pillow....that is suppose to keep you from rolling over...

http://www.mybacksleeper.com/


So, for anyone who has actually switched over to back sleeper --- did it really help your TOS symptoms??

That's a miracle pillow it even helps cleavage wrinkles!

Lifelong side sleeper here. I met a Feldenkrais PT who was a proponent of movement while sleeping. I went to her when I could no longer sleep on my sides due to an exercise a TOS expert gave me which made me dramatically worse. My thoracic spine was also burning, but between the two evils, I had to train myself to sleep on my back. It was no easy task!

Her theory made a lot of sense to me and I've seen the benefits of changing positions throughout the night. Since I also trained myself to sleep on my back, I have that as an option now too. If I wake-up in the night, I never go back to the same position - I keep it moving.

I sleep on my sides, and my back once and while. I can't sleep on my stomach at all. Yesterday morning I woke up, and my left arm was completely numb, when the feeling started coming back my last two fingers were hurting pretty bad for a while. It was on the side I was sleeping on, my non-surgery side. I guess I stayed in that position too long. I think it's better if you can change positions throughout the night, like Anne said.