If you have been wondering if you should be elevating your legs while sleeping on your side, you have come to the right place. In short, the answer is yes, a leg elevation pillow for side sleepers is an essential component to side sleeping.

Why use a leg elevation pillow for side sleepers?

Side sleeping is comfortable, until it isn’t. As a physical therapist, the most common complaint I hear from people having trouble sleeping on their side is “my (back/shoulder/hips) hurts when I lie on my side.” Explaining why this pain is happening, and how to avoid it, is one of my favorite things to educate my patients on.

Our bodies weren’t made to just sleep flat on our sides. No matter your body type or body shape, the outermost part of your body has various curvatures. You may have wide hips and a narrow waist, broad shoulders and a narrow hips, or any other combination of curves. The bottom line is, no one's body is completely straight. Because of this, when you lie on the naturally curvy side of your body, on your flat mattress, those natural curvatures are left unsupported.

For instance, when you lie on your side, there is an area between the bottom of your rib cage and the top of your hip bone that doesn't have the same outer bone structure that your ribs and hip provide. So, when you lie down, what takes the brunt of this area that does not have an outer bone structure? Your spine! Your spine will curve down towards the bed. This can lead to back stiffness and pain.

Next, think about your hips and legs (which is where a leg elevation pillow for side sleepers will come in). When you lie on your side, the outside of your hip is the tallest point on your body. Your thighs angle down to your knees, your knees mash together, and there is another downward angle from your knees to your ankles.

In this position, gravity pulls on your back, thigh, and hip. This causes your muscles to be out of balance. Imbalanced muscles pull on your joints and cause both muscle and joint pain.

To solve the problem of bad angles and improper body support while sleeping on your side, you need a leg elevation pillow for side sleepers. But not just any pillow. To work properly, it needs to have several different characteristics.

Characteristics of a leg elevation pillow for side sleepers

A leg elevation pillow fits in between your legs. It should be placed right up against your pubic bone and be long enough to go past your feet. It should keep your top leg elevated so that your top leg is parallel with the bed (or close to it). This restores muscle and joint balance to your body and prevents you from waking up with pain in the morning due to improper positioning.

Additionally, side sleepers should use a side sleeper wedge. This small wedge fits in the area between the bottom of your rib cage and the top of your hip. It keeps your spine supported during the night so that it does not curve down towards the bed.

Choosing a leg elevation pillow for side sleepers is the next step on your journey to find comfort. And as we like to say at Wedge Pillow Solutions, find comfort, because your life is waiting.

-Hillary Blare, Doctor of Physical Therapy

A 7 inch wedge pillow helps you sleep slightly reclined. One of the most common reasons a 7 inch bed wedge is sought after is due to its ability to combat acid reflux.

A 7 inch wedge pillow for acid reflux

Most gastroenterologists will recommend that their acid reflux or GERD patients sleep slightly elevated on an incline pillow. When you sleep on a slight incline, it is much harder for stomach acid to flow back into your esophagus (which is the source of heartburn). Many people wonder what height wedge they should be looking for in order to combat reflux or GERD.

The answer is a 7 inch wedge pillow. Seven inches is the height that doctors recommend for combatting acid reflux or GERD. Studies show that this amount of incline reduces reflux symptoms, allowing you to sleep comfortably.

Is sleeping on a 7 inch bed wedge comfortable?

There are several things that go into whether or not sleeping on a 7 inch wedge pillow is comfortable:

First you should consider what material the wedge pillow is made of. Some wedge pillows are cheaply made. Wedge pillows made with cheap materials have a tendency to sag. Sleeping on a saggy pillow leads to stiffness, soreness, and pain in the morning. Because of this, it is important to find a 7 inch wedge pillow made with a firm foam base to give your torso the most amount of support.

Next, make sure your wedge pillow has a memory foam topper. Due to its ability to conform to your body, a memory foam topper offers you the most comfort. The combination of a firm foam base and a memory foam topper give you both support and comfort.

Third, use a knee wedge pillow for your legs. Some people find that they slide down their 7 inch wedge pillow during the night. The way to combat this is to prop your legs on a knee wedge pillow. Propping your legs on a knee wedge pillow keeps you from sliding down your wedge pillow overnight. It also relaxes your hips and lower back. Sleeping reclined with both a knee wedge and a 7 inch wedge is truly the crème de la crème of sleep positions.

Lastly, sleep with your regular neck pillow on top of the wedge. Just because you are sleeping on a 7 inch wedge pillow, don’t forget to place your regular neck pillow on top! You don’t want to lie with your head flat on the wedge. For maximum comfort, place your regular neck pillow on top of the wedge, just like you would if you were sleeping flat on your mattress.

Not all 7 inch wedge pillows are created equal. Once you find one that is supportive and comfortable, you’ll never want to sleep without it.

-Hillary Blare, Doctor of Physical Therapy

The diagnosis of pediatric sleep apnea comes with a mix of emotions. On the one hand, it’s a relief to find out that there is a medical diagnosis responsible for your child’s sleep disruptions! However, on the other hand, it can be stressful to figure out how exactly to help them.

The following comes from one of our moms whose 3-year-old daughter slept through the night for the first time EVER, after making one nighttime change.

Here is her story:

My daughter has always woken up 5-6 times during the night. As time went on, we kept thinking it would get better. However, after she turned three years old and was continuing to wake up this frequently, we wondered if there could be something else going on.

In light of this, our next step was to make an appointment with our doctor. After discussing my daughters sleep troubles with our pediatrician, he referred us for a sleep study. The sleep study came back with remarkable results. Our daughter was diagnosed with pediatric obstructive sleep apnea.

I had never heard of pediatric sleep apnea! I was shocked to learn that the test showed that our daughter had over 11 breathing disturbances in one night. It is no wonder she woke up so often while sleeping, she was having trouble breathing!

Sleep apnea treatment without CPAP

After the sleep study, our next step was to visit an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor to talk about a pediatric sleep apnea treatment. One option was of course a pediatric CPAP machine. Before jumping straight into that, I wanted to look around at all the potential treatment options.

During my search, I learned more about what causes sleep apnea in pediatric patients. During my research, I found that a sleep apnea treatment for adults is to sleep elevated and on their side. So, I thought, why wouldn’t this work for kids? That’s when I started looking for a wedge pillow for sleep apnea.

Thankfully, I found exactly what I was looking for at Wedge Pillow Solutions: a contoured incline wedge pillow. This wedge elevates your torso and is made especially for side sleepers. I wondered if this wedge, which is technically made for adults, could help my daughter sleep?

I decided to give it a try. My husband and I were amazed. The first night my daughter slept on the wedge, she woke up ZERO times. This had never happened before. The first night of sleeping on this wedge pillow was the first night she had ever slept through the night.

Now, it has been a month, and she has slept through the night every, single, night. We are so thankful that we found a natural treatment for pediatric sleep apnea that helps our daughter sleep. And the best part is? She loves the wedge! I place it under the fitted sheet on her bed. Now, she won’t go to bed without her “princess pillow”!

If your family is struggling with pediatric sleep apnea, try a side sleeping wedge! It changed our life, and it could change yours!

-Happy mom!

To learn how to stop sleeping on your back, you’ve got to show your body that it can be comfortable in another position. Once your body discovers that it can be comfortable in other positions, the urge to roll over to your back will disappear.

How to stop sleeping on your back

Switch over to side sleeping, the RIGHT way. Show your body that it can be comfortable on its side. Most people have a problem with side sleeping because when they do it, their body is out of alignment.

The correct way to sleep on your side is with your spine and hips fully supported. To do this, you need to sleep with a supportive neck wedge pillow, a side sleeper wedge, and a fully supportive leg separator pillow.

Your body wants to be in a position where its muscles and joints are relaxed. Putting it in this side sleeping position where it feels completely relaxed and at ease will give your brain positive feedback. Your brain will associate comfort and relaxation with this position and the urge for you to roll to your back will go away.

To elaborate on this a little more, once you support your joints and muscles completely and correctly, your body will pick up on the fact that its muscles and joints are at rest. It sends this feedback to your brain, which will in turn try to keep your body in this position.

If you do roll over to your back in your sleep, you will likely wake up soon after. When this happens, roll back over to your side and re-position. Doing this repeatedly will re-enforce to your brain where your body feels comfortable. Soon, the urge to sleep on your back will disappear.

Sleeping on your back isn’t the problem, sleeping FLAT on your back is

What if you enjoy sleeping on your back, but can’t anymore for some reason? Let’s go over a couple of back sleeping positions that you may find more comfortable!

First off, learn how to stop sleeping on your back the WRONG way. This could be causing your problems! Sleeping flat on your back is not a good sleeping position. It’s bad for your spine, back muscles, and hips. It can make snoring, sleep apnea, and morning sinus congestion all worse. This is just to name a few physiological downfalls of this sleeping position.

Instead, sleep on your back with a knee wedge pillow under your knees. Placing a knee wedge pillow under your knees re-aligns the muscles and joints that make up your hips and lower back. This re-alignment results in relaxation of your back and hips and will prevent you from waking up with stiffness and soreness in these areas.

If your upper back is the issue, try placing a triangle wedge pillow behind your torso. Elevating your torso decreases pressure on your upper back and improves circulation throughout your head and torso.

For maximum comfort, sleep with BOTH a knee wedge pillow and a triangle wedge pillow. This creates an anti-gravity effect that improves full body circulation and provides the maximum amount of muscle and joint relaxation.

Learning how to stop sleeping on your back is simple, if you know some tricks of the trade. Comfort is important while you sleep, so make sure you have the right tools to make it possible!

-Hillary Blare, Doctor of Physical Therapy