Occam's razor

[pegkerr]

I have been having increasing pain in my left shoulder for the past couple of months, and I have been wondering how on earth I strained it. It has gotten so bad that I have been reluctant to do my upper body weight-lifting. I have been racking my brains, wondering how and where I injured it, and wondering why it isn't getting any better.

This morning, I was lying in bed and shifted and felt pain again, and then it hit me:

I always sleep on my left side.

Due to a strange change in my body when I became pregnant, I can only sleep on my left. If I lie on my right, I get heartburn within two minutes. If I lie on my back, my hands and feet fall asleep. I have squishy obstacles to sleeping on my stomach.

So, could my shoulder be having trouble because I'm resting my body weight on it every single night? Could it be as simple as that?

Comments

[naomikritzer]

Dangit, I had a whole long comment typed out when Firefox crashed.

You might try out a memory foam mattress pad. If you'd just won the lottery, I would suggest considering a memory foam mattress, but (a) they're very expensive, (b) they're kind of warm (which may be lovely now, but will probably be very much NOT what you want at night in a few years), and (c) Rob might really hate that sort of bed. I tried out some Tempur-pedic beds while shopping for a new mattress last spring. They're probably the perfect bed for someone who sleeps in one particular position all night. But, it's kind of like sleeping in gum -- it's hard to roll over. Ed would not have wanted that sort of bed, even if I'd loved it.

Memory foam mattress pads are not really like memory foam beds, but do provide some additional support. You can buy them from Target for about $200 for the thick ones -- much cheaper than the name-brand kind. Memory foam loses its spring over time, and I've heard that the Tempur-pedic name brand kind holds up longer. But for a mattress pad, I don't really see a benefit there -- given that you can't launder it, I would rather re-buy more frequently and have a new one.

If you decide you need a new mattress, I'll note that I bought my new mattress & spring at the Original Mattress Factory and they were waaaaaaaaaay less expensive than the alternatives I found, while also being extremely comfortable (and a much less involved negotiation process than at Mattress Giant, where it's kind of like buying a car.)