Sleeptember - New knowledge opens the door to new successes
"Time and tide wait for no man"
Geoffrey Chaucer.
How long have therapists been treating spinal pain? Over 10 years ago, I realised there was no evidence-based guide to advise clients on the best sleep postures for those experiencing waking spinal pain. This surprised me. We know we spend 30% of our life sleeping, we know that sleep quality and quantity affect our longevity, and short sleeping causes MSK pain onset and flares. Surely, we already know the relationship between sleep posture and waking pain. Nope! There was plenty of anecdotal advice about what postures we should advise, but nothing had been tested.
And so began my sojourn into research. With the help of researchers Kathy Briffa, Michelle Sterling, Leanda McKenna and statistician Angela Jacques we looked to unravel the mysteries of sleep posture, develop some standardisation of sleep posture classification, see if there were relationships between sleep posture and waking spinal pain and examine if people can change their sleep posture with a low cost, easily available intervention, all while asleep.
You can read the series of papers that led up to this point here. The information we have learned so far is developing awareness and changing advice given to clients. It has been discussed in TEDx talks, podcasts, radio interviews and on high-profile online sleep forums.
I am writing this email on the eve of the completion of our final paper, in which we used a simple, single education session to change sleep posture and outline the positive changes that we noted, not only in sleep posture and spinal pain but sleep quality and mental health.
Getting Involved
This new information is only of benefit when provided to clients in the right context. That is the point of this email. Knowledge translation has taken decades in the past. Yet with today's technology and social interconnectedness, we can speed up that process. I encourage you to undertake our free fun Sleep Posture Challenge and start applying our research findings today.
Or take the deep dive, develop your new skillset in sleep education and assist clients you may not have been able to before, by completing the Sleep Mastery Course.
Like me, you will be amazed at what a difference these changes can make in our clients' lives.