Got scapulohumeral periarthritis, why does sleeping at night hurt more than working during the day?

Many patients with scapulohumeral periarthritis find that their shoulders and arms will be sore during the day and more painful at night. Some people wake up in pain after falling asleep, and some people even suffer from insomnia due to persistent pain! Why is this?

Why does scapulohumeral periarthritis hurt at night than during the day? There are three reasons.

1. Inflammatory metabolites-nocturnal aggregation

When resting at night, our skeletal muscles are at rest. In this state, the tension of small vascular smooth muscle is higher than during the day, the blood flow resistance is greater, and the blood flow is less (so that blood nutrition in the body can be supplied to important organs such as heart, brain, liver and kidney to ensure their functional activities). When the blood supply in the inflamed area of the diseased shoulder joint is less, the metabolites of inflammation cannot be transported away, diluted and decomposed quickly, resulting in the higher concentration of pain-causing factors in the shoulder joint, the stronger the stimulation to pain nerves.

At the same time, the higher the concentration of these metabolites, the heavier the local swelling and stasis, and the stronger the stretching and compression, so the pain in the affected area will be aggravated at night.

2. It has little impact on the environment at night

During the day, the sympathetic nerves in the body are in an excited state, and patients are more tolerant of pain. The patient's attention is distracted by work, study and interpersonal communication, but the influence of nighttime environment is less, and the patient's attention is more likely to focus on shoulder pain, so the pain at night is more obvious.

3. The tissues around the shoulder joint are compressed for a long time.

When sleeping at night, the patient's posture is fixed, and the shoulder joint capsule or other tissues around the shoulder joint may be compressed or pulled for a long time, thus causing pain.

When sleeping at night, the mobility of shoulder joint decreases, and the exudate and edema of inflammation in shoulder joint will form adhesion with surrounding tissues. During sleep, the patient's posture is fixed, and the shoulder joint capsule or other tissues around the shoulder joint may be compressed or pulled for a long time, thus causing pain.

Do you have all these symptoms of scapulohumeral periarthritis?

If it does not meet the following characteristics, it cannot be easily diagnosed as scapulohumeral periarthritis:

Shoulder pain: It tends to get worse gradually, especially at night, and some patients will wake up in pain at night, which will affect their sleep;

(4) limited activities: active and passive activities in all directions are limited, mainly limited by external rotation and abduction;

④ Shoulder fear of cold: Patients with scapulohumeral periarthritis will have symptoms of shoulder fear of cold;

4 obvious tenderness: tenderness points are often not fixed, with many positions and deep tenderness;

Shoulder atrophy: the muscles of scapulohumeral periarthritis usually do not atrophy, but due to pain, the muscle strength often decreases, which affects the evaluation.

The pain of scapulohumeral periarthritis at night is unbearable. How to alleviate it?

1. Ice before going to bed

Because during daytime activities, there is a certain tear in the soft tissue adhesion of the shoulder joint, which is an acute injury. Such a small tear will produce inflammation. In this case, 1.2 times of ice can be given before going to bed, which can well control the inflammatory changes and edema caused by small tears and help patients relieve certain pain. When applying cold compress, wrap the ice pack or other frozen things in the refrigerator with a clean towel and apply it on the painful shoulder to relieve the pain. Each cold compress lasts 5 15 minutes.

Of course, ice compress is only suitable for the acute injury period of scapulohumeral periarthritis, that is, when the pain is severe. If the pain is not very severe at ordinary times, hot compress will be more friendly to shoulder joint.

2. Choose the right medicine and stick to it.

The pain of scapulohumeral periarthritis, on the one hand, is the congestion and edema of aseptic inflammation, the compression and traction of peripheral nerves (tendons and ligaments belong to dense tissues, and slight swelling can also cause traction reaction); On the other hand, the stimulation of inflammation, congestion and blood stasis. It makes the local inflammatory products accumulate and stay, which itself has a strong stimulating and damaging effect on the sensory nerves, causing pain.

The root of treatment is to promote the elimination of inflammatory edema, which requires insisting on taking some drugs (such as Jingfukang). ) specifically for shoulder and neck pain, it is helpful to diminish inflammation, reduce swelling and relieve pain of inflammatory edema of soft tissue around the shoulder.

3. Pay attention to your sleeping posture and method

Patients with scapulohumeral periarthritis can sleep with a cushion under the shoulder joint, which can reduce the stress on the shoulder joint. A relatively loose shoulder joint will relieve pain to some extent.

In addition, sleeping position is particularly important. Never oppress the shoulder joint when sleeping, and never sleep on your stomach, which will cause great pressure on the shoulder joint. In addition, when you pad your shoulders, you can also pad a cushion at the elbow joint, which will have a very good support and less stimulation to the shoulder joint.