If you have a shoulder pain from shoulder impingement, bursitis, tendonitis, or frozen shoulder in particular, it can be really difficult to find a comfortable position for your shoulder in bed. The key to finding the sweet spot lies in the natural plane of your shoulder blade. Something we call the Scapula Plane. So, in this video I explain what that is, and how it helps us to find the best position to sleeping in for shoulder pain.

0:00 Intro
0:21 The Key To Avoid Shoulder Pain In Bed
0:51 Lying Face Up
1:30 Sidelying: Bad Shoulder Up
1:49 Sidelying: Bad Shoulder Down
3:10 Lying Face Down
3:59 What about when I'm asleep though?
4:17 SUMMARY

HOW TO SLEEP FOR SHOULDER PAIN RELIEF
The secret to a good night sleep with a sore shoulder is to keep your arm in a neutral position compared to your shoulder blade. Our shoulder blade, at rest, sits against our rib cage on about a 30 degree angle forward. This is called the scapular plane. If our arm is too flexed, extended, internally or externally rotated compared to the shoulder blade, it’ll strain muscles, reduce space in the joint, and irritate the shoulder capsule.

HOW TO SLEEP WITH FROZEN SHOULDER
Finding the best position to sleeping in for frozen shoulder is especially hard! The shoulder capsule is so inflamed and contracted that any deviation from neutral soon results in pain. You’ll need plenty of pillows. Follow the instructions in this video but use the double pillow version for each position, because too much internal and external rotation of the shoulder can really hurt when the capsule is inflamed.

LYING FACE UP WITH SHOULDER PAIN
Lying on your back is a pretty good option. But if your shoulder is really inflamed, putting your arm on the bed extends the joint compared to that shoulder blade plane, so place your arm on a pillow. If your shoulder is really inflamed (eg. you’ve got frozen shoulder or impingement), place another on your chest to stop the arm from internally rotating too much.

HOW TO LIE ON YOUR SIDE WITH SHOULDER PAIN:
1. BAD SHOULDER UP
If you lie on your side with your bad shoulder UP, hugging a pillow will help to bring it into that 30 degrees scapula plane position. Try to use a BIG pillow though, or even two pillows, because this will minimise too much internal rotation.

2. BAD SHOULDER DOWN
• Roll back so that you’re lying on your rib cage more than your shoulder. (Bending the top knee less than the bottom one will help to roll you back.)
• Keep your elbow down.
• Hug a big pillow to stop internal or external rotation
• You can use an extra pillow for shoulder pain relief. Try a thin pillow below the shoulder—under your rib cage—to take pressure off your shoulder.

IS LYING FACE DOWN BAD FOR SHOULDERS?
Lying face down makes it very difficult to find a good position for your shoulder, so, I don’t recommend this. But, if you absolutely have to lie face down, the best option would be with a pillow under your chest, leg on bad shoulder side bent, and the bad shoulder up.

SUMMARY
The aim of all of these positions is to keep your arm in this zone: 30 degrees forward, elbow down not up, and without too much internal or external rotation. So, try to keep that general rule in mind.

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