Would it be on the sides only, with a pillow between the thighs, and the knees contacting each other?

I find sleeping on the side to be real evil to by back. If I do that a whole night, I wake up with extreme back pain. Of course I got hips so it's a little different. If you have pain in your lower back when trying to sleep, you might want to try putting your feet on top of something so you get a 90degree angle in your knees.
Doesn't sleep on your back work?

Would it be on the sides only, with a pillow between the thighs, and the knees contacting each other?.

Or on your back. "They" say never on your stomach, but I have had a bad back for years and some of the most restful sleep I get is half on my side and half on my stomach, if you can picture that. Whatever is confortable for you is okay imo. Also I do like lying on my back with something suporting my legs in a 90% position as jrs stated.

You just use a bunch of pillows, so that your spine is flush with the bed? I do that sometimes. It's terribly "uncomfortable", although I think it's better on my back. My favourite position to sleep is on my stomach, or the position that Jesse mentioned, but since I've been doing the side thing, or sometimes on my back with the 90 degree thing, i find that my lower back pain has subsided to a great degree, so stomach is definitely putting undue stress on it. I'm trying to find the ideal position for the spine :)

Bump :)

When I had a herniated disc, years and years ago, they told me to either sleep in the foetal position, or with pillows under my legs.

Would it be on the sides only, with a pillow between the thighs, and the knees contacting each other?


It completely depends on what is causing the back pain. However, whatever results in reduced pain is probably good for it (at least that was what I was told by a doctor).

I sleep on my side with a pillow between my knees

Put a thick board under your matress. I just started doing that and it seems to help!

I sleep on my side with a pillow between the knees (a big one) or I sleep half stomach half side as mentioned above. I have a terrible back, I have thought of trying one of those tempurpedic mattresses. However, I am not sure they are worth the money. Anyone got one?

I am not sure what type of mattress we have, but believe me, when it comes to a mattress, you get what you pay for. I hurt my back when I was 18 (31 years ago) and in the military. About six months ago, we bought a new king set from the furniture store my son-in-law waoks at. I have not had any back problems since. I sleep on my stomach with no extra pillows. I look for the name of the mattress, but I think it is a Sterns and Foster.

Try replacing your bed, usually a bad mattress can cause problems such as this.

Lower the foot part a little and keep the rest of the bed straight. I learned this while in hospital, but you can purchase beds with the same possibilities.

Have you tried softer vs harder mattresses?

I think our mattress is decent. I really like hard ones and it's pretty hard. I've been religiously sleeping only on my side lately or on my back. My side is good. I was doing the pillow between legs, but it is a bit of a hassel! Bar none the absolute best thing I've found is 4 pillows under my legs, on my back, with my back flush against the bed. It's just awesome. Unfortunately my wife hates me sleeping on my back (snoring).

My sleeping and posture corrections at work have done wonders over the past several weeks. I still have some lingering discomfort, but not the pain I used to have. I know that if I slept only on my back with my legs propped up, the pain would entirely subside after a while.

We invested in a Tempurpedic mattress two years ago. I doubt I'll ever own anything else. Best sleep of my life, no pain. Bought one of the pillows too. Worth every penny.

My lower back sucks! :)

If I wake up in any position besides on my back then I am usually feeling pretty bad, so on my back is the best position for me.

Putting a board under the matress is good advice too btw.

Investing in a quality matress is great advice. Spend the money even if you have to open a new credit card account. It's worth it. By the way, a good doctor or chiro will fax a letter to Sears (or wherever) so that you don't have to pay taxes on the matress. May not sound like much but a really high quality king size will cost over $2,000, so it's a good chunk of cash you can save. My chiro does this.

Hort - is that the matress that feels "mushy?" Like you press down and it takes a few seconds for the indention to puff back up? I layed on one of these in Brookstone and it was pretty comfortable, although my doctor told me it would be very very bad for my back. He said I needed a hard bed, more support. Anyway just curious.