Is it really a “sleeping injury”?
Have you ever woken up feeling as though you somehow injured yourself in your sleep?
Maybe one morning you realized you felt a kink in your neck that wasn’t there the day before or that your back was suddenly hurting for no apparent reason. Maybe you were even in too much pain to get out of bed. What could have happened? Did you turn the wrong way in your sleep or wrench your back without noticing it? 
It’s possible, but not the most common cause. Usually when we’ve woken up in the morning to pain like this it’s because we really did over-stretch our limits (and our bodies) in broad daylight, but didn’t realize it at the time. When I have clients that tell me they woke up one morning with significant pain I always ask them to think back to a couple of days before. Did they do anything out of the ordinary? Lift something heavy? Hold their neck in one position for a long time like with reading or looking down at something? Did they almost take a fall at some point during the day? Lift their child in a way that made them lose their balance for a second? Sometimes our bodies don’t give us immediate feedback and it can be really hard to remember what we did to hurt ourselves.
When they can’t recall anything out of the ordinary happening, I consider another option: a repetitive motion they’ve been doing has finally reached its threshold. This could be anything; playing a guitar at band practice, nursing a baby, lifting a child, doing day-to-day activities for your job, or even blow-drying your hair. Simple actions that we do every day can take a toll and surprise us with pain when we wake up one morning.
It’s funny, but oftentimes our bodies don’t fully register an injury until after a period of rest. This is why we wake up with “sleeping injuries” – especially as we age. So before you run out to buy a new pillow or mattress, do some detective work and consider what you could be doing during the day that’s causing you pain in the morning. Resolving the pain could be as easy as making a small adjustment to a repetitive motion, incorporating regular stretching, or even receiving some bodywork to help your body out while it recovers.
