Sleep related injury???? WTF???!!!!!!

[DubfromGA]

I've been fully aware that I am my own worst enemy. I've acknowledged this a while back. I thought I'd taken steps to address it and actually reverse the role.


Now I've taken the bs to a new level.

Never had any trouble from my left shoulder before. It's been rock steady even when my right shoulder was suspect.

The other day I wake up from a peaceful slumber and my left shoulder has checked out. The bitch was almost totally inop. WTF? Went to bed nice and tired from a great leg workout after a 13hr shift at work...no pain.....great dinner....shower.....deep sleep. Wake up 6 hrs later to an alarm clock that I can't reach without some serious pain from my left shoulder.

This has been wild. I knew it would return to normal in a few days (I feaking hoped) and it has been getting better these past 3 days....each day having more range of motion without significant pain.

Evidently, I must have slept on my left side with my shoulder in an awkward position. Insane to think this kind of pain could come from......sleeping.

Never had this kind of crap happen when I was much heavier. Maybe all the fat cushioned things?



Dangitman.....going to have to wedge some pillows on so I don't roll onto my side. Freaking sleeping precautions. Too weird.

I'll do it, though, as I have hatred for anything that keeps me out of my full workouts. Going to the gym this week just to do cardio is hitting me where it hurts. Might as well go in there with my wife's pink shirt on. Feel like a whimpy bastard.


Maybe I'm just pissed that my team lost 35-20 last night to our #2 in-state rival. Yeah, that too. ARGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

[grizz74]

I had this same problem a few months back.I just woke up and my left shoulder was hurting.I thought that it was from over training but it turned out it was from sleeping on my side.The pain lasted for weeks and I couldn't lift a lot of weight at all.I was convinced after reading a few posts about rotator cuffs that I had a injury. I work at a hospital so I spoke with a orthopedic surgeon about it.He told me to do some stretches before I work out and to take some aleve and see if that helped. Sure enough I was stiff as a board and stretching that shoulder was painful but after about 5 min of warm up and a few reps with light weight it felt fine.Its been two months now and I still warm up before I workout and sometimes I wake up with a little sourness in my shoulder from sleeping on it.I do believe that since I lost a lot of weight (289 to 223) I lost some support from my fat so I use a pillow to support my shoulder when I sleep on my side.

[chunkysnowman]

Don't know what to say except that I feel for you. I am frequently 'cricking' my neck in my sleep, and recently my elbows have taken to getting stiff over night. You can try taking an over the counter anti-inflamatory before bed. The other thing that has helped me a great deal is to change to a memory foam pillow. I know your problem is your shoulder, but ofc neck and shoulder are connected to it may help you.

[KeithTheSnake]

I just complained to my wife about my sleep-related shoulder injury. Same thing. Knocks me out for a coupla days every once in a while.

Just like your situation, OP, my shoulder pain happens when I sleep deeply.

Between my self-induced sleep-related shoulder pain, my wife hopping up and down on the bed all night tweaking the crap out of my back, and my wife slashing her "Attack of the 60' Woman" hands across my eyes when she flails around in her sleep -- Crap! I'm afraid to go to bed!

[ljimd]

I'm guessin' all of us at one time or another have suffered just like you, I know I have. Not sure there's a definitive answer other than "I slept on it funny". As long as you (or your doc) have ruled out any specific medical problem I'm sure it will pass. I've always thought that it was muscle spasms related to how deeply you slept thus restricting your movement. Not sure if your lean/fat condition is related. The stretching advice seems pretty reasonable. Good luck.

[latebloomingmom]

might want to get a bigger pillow? see when you were heavier..you had more cushion on your shoulder...this propped (sp?) you up higher in the bed when you were laying on your side? just an idea. or you gonna have to become a back or stomach sleeper..or rotate every few hours? Ya I am a side sleeper too and always have been but for some reason mine just kinda pop out of place when i sleep on them and then when I wake up and sit up in bed..pop, pop, they go back in again..I know weird

[cowboybiker]

Same problem here.
I usually sleep better with my arms above my head.
But extra cushion helps.
Gotta 4 ft. long feather pillow I can smash together for proper comfort

[JRT6]

I've wrecked my back sleeping on my stomach.

[MecGen]

Funny its day two of waking up with a bagged left shoulder, Advil did nothing for it.

Good luck with yours

[beachguy498]

Mine only bothers me now when I sleep with my arm over my head. The best thing for it is to lay my arm on a pillow next to me so it gets some support and takes the load off the shoulder joint.

Rob

[tsoden]

I woke up one more with a dislocated finger. No idea how that happened, but man it hurt like ***k.... even after getting it back in joint... which almost made me pass out, it still hurt for a long time. Actually this has happened a couple times.

[tsoden]

As for shoulder injuries while sleeping, yes, I can also relate to that one. Years ago while losing weight with weight watchers, I was having a lot of shoulder issues - strangly I had none of these issues prior to weight watchers. It got to the point where my shoulders hurt from the weight of my arm hanging down. Sleeping was not any easier, and I constantly had pain on the left side (being my dominate sleeping side). I went through a lot of advil during this time. and this is also when the grinding in my shoulders started.

Since starting my lifting almost a year ago now, I have built my shoulders up gradually using light weights (no heavier than 25's for lateral moves, but heavier on presses (100 lbs or so). I have since had little issues with pain.

[nixter]

Hey OP, I've had the EXACT thing happen to me. Took 3 weeks to get my shoulder feeling normal again. Very weird indeed.

[HairyScandinavian]

My shoulders are always going to sleep at night, causes me to toss and turn all the time. Like you that never happened when I was heavier. In July I woke up one Saturday to find I couldn't move my neck, at all, and it would spasm big time every couple minutes causing excruciatingly sharp pains. It took the entire 3 day weekend to recover to the point where I could just get up and walk around normally, and I would have had to call in to work that Monday had it not been a Holiday. The only thing I had changed was my wife had bought me a nice soft new pillow that I used that Friday night. Needless to say that pillow got tossed to the dog and I went back to my tiny little camp pillow.

[Meatpants]

I have done this a few times to my shoulder. I think its more of an issue with the shoulder muscles already being aggravated, and the position in which I slept just made it more apparent. Try working some external rotations in, or getting a deep tissue massage to rehab it.

A trip to the chiro may also help. In my case, it help confirm that I had a bit of upper cross syndrome.

[TheKoiCarp]

Very similar to what happened to me. Fell asleep on the sofa with my right hand up and round the back of my head for a couple of hours and woke up in agony. Took a week or so before all the pain had gone.

It has never really recovered though and still get nerve pain when my arm is in various fully stretched positions. That was a couple of years ago, I should really get a MRI but it had never come back badly before. The more I train the more I realise my right shoulder is more prone to aching.

[DubfromGA]

Damn, just damn.

I had no idea of how aggravating this was going to be.....OR....how common this must be. It was good to hear your stories. Had me laughing at a few of them, too.

I detest setbacks and have been getting a bit antsy over the weekend. I've hit legs twice since this bs occured and went today and was able to get in a half azz bicep workout.


The range of motion is now full with just soreness, not the pain from before. Daily Advil has really done the trick, along with continued stretching and sleeping only on my back.....forevermore on my back.

Crazy stuff. It's driving the family dog crazy, too. She's used to laying around....not this weekend. I've had energy that needed burning. She's walked several miles with me.

Ah, the pains of growing older..........

[2nd_chance]

Back in June I tore my meniscus getting out of bed in the middle of the night to go pee. Didn't know til I woke up in the morning and couldn't walk. Couldn't work legs for 3 months. Life happens.

[Old-Time-Lifter]

This is why I've trained myself to only sleep on my back and with my arms at my sides. I do not use a pillow either just a rolled up towel under my neck. If I sleep any other way I will be sorry for weeks not days.

[taylor9569]

I sleep on my right side with my arm under the pillow, and often wake up with stiffness in my shoulder.

If I sleep on my back or on my left side I snore, and my wife tends to wake me with an elbow to the ribs, so I'm in a lose, lose situation

[DubfromGA]

I sleep on my right side with my arm under the pillow, and often wake up with stiffness in my shoulder.

If I sleep on my back or on my left side I snore, and my wife tends to wake me with an elbow to the ribs, so I'm in a lose, lose situation

This, too, can be fixed.


I snore horribly.....worse than I spell and type.......horribly.

I've had a sleep study several years ago and was diagnosed with sleep apnia. A C-Pap machine was perscribed. It has worked wonders. Snoring stopped the first hour of the first night I used it. I've had two replacements since then. The latetst one has a humidifier and is a top notch unit. I love it. My wife can't even tell I'm sleeping in the bed with her....other than the fact theres a Sasquatch looking lump under the blanket next to her.

Good luck. Don't put up with snoring. I promise you it will go away with this unit. No more ribs in the side....ever again.

[Meatpants]

I would get it checked out, so that you know its not something that will reoccur, or is a symptom of something underlying. The biggest thing I try to take away from any injury is why/how it happened, so that it can be prevented. Of course there's always the fluke sh!t that just happens because you slept on it wrong.

Out of curiosity, preceding the injury, when did you last work delts or back, and what does your delt and back routine look like?

[southerndoc]

I saw a guy in the ED once who had a posterior shoulder dislocation from a seizure during his sleep. He ended up having obstructive sleep apnea that caused it when his oxygen saturation dropped.

[Inforit]

i sleep better in my recliner so i sleep in my recliner. been doing this for a couple of years now. much more comfy too. once in a while the knees will act up from sleeping with them in the wrong position but not very often. the deeper you sleep the more chance of sleeping on a limb and not feeling the ache then the damage is done. maybe the answer is no more sleeping?