How to Sleep with Meralgia Paresthetica

Finding out how to sleep with Meralgia Paresthetica can be challenging with thigh burning, tingling, and pain. Many patients find that Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve pain can be especially bothersome at night when they’re trying to sleep. You may feel frustrated that you struggle with nerve discomfort in your thigh and then when you go home to rest it’s difficult.

Sleep is especially important when you have Meralgia Paresthetica since a lot of the healing process is happening when you’re sleeping. If you’re not sleeping, or sleeping poorly, it negatively affects your healing process. Your recovery may be slow and it may take longer for the condition to resolve. A doctor who I admire once told me – If a patient isn’t sleeping, your goal at the first visit should be to get them comfortable enough to get a good nights rest, above anything else.

Sleeping with Meralgia Paresthetica might require you change your sleeping position. Changing how you sleep can be difficult even in those without pain. Most of us have a typical sleep position that we like, and changing it takes commitment. The good news is that by changing your sleeping position can be a huge factor to getting over Meralgia Paresthetica.

In this content I’m going to show you the 3 best sleep positions for Meralgia Paresthetica. Whether you’re a stomach sleeper, side sleeper, or someone who sleeps on your back there are strategies you can use to relieve compression or tension on the Lateral Femoral Cutaneous nerve. Once that pressure or tension is relieved you should be able to sleep and heal without constant thigh burning, tingling, and aching. I’ll even show you a video where I demonstrate the best sleeping positions for Meralgia Paresthetica.

If you haven’t read my 3 part series on Meralgia Paresthetica, make sure you check it out in the links below. In this series, I ANSWER ALL YOUR QUESTIONS ON MERALGIA PARESTHETICA and tell you how you can overcome it! 

Part 3: Treatments for Meralgia Paresthetica

• What’s the best treatment for Meralgia Paresthetica?
• How can I relieve Meralgia Paresthetica at home?
• What are home treatments for Meralgia Paresthetica?
• What are medical treatments for Meralgia Paresthetica?

Is Meralgia Paresthetica Worse at Night?

Meralgia Paresthetica is often worse at night and makes it hard to sleep comfortably. Typical sleep positions can place compression or tension on the Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve and cause burning, tingling, aching and other painful symptoms in the front of the thigh. If you’re sleeping in a poor position, the nerve may be irritated the throughout the whole night. This irritation impedes your recovery and may make you feel like you’re never going to get better.

When the nerve is compressed it can make it either hard to get to sleep, hard to stay asleep, or both. I know many patients with this complaint are frustrated because they know they need the rest to heal well, but aren’t getting it. When I first started writing about Meralgia Paresthetica I made a video demonstrating how to sleep with Meralgia Paresthetica and was surprised how many people found it very helpful. Make sure you watch the video below where I show you how to sleep well with this condition.

The Best Way to Sleep with Meralgia Paresthetica

The best way to sleep with Meralgia Paresthetica is in a position where you’re not compressing the Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve. Using a couple pillows, there are simple ways to sleep on your stomach, your side, or your back that will relieve this nerve. I generally suggest trying all three positions to find which works the best for you.

Sleeping on Your Stomach with Meralgia Paresthetica

Sleeping on your stomach isn’t the best position to sleep, in general, but if you’re accustomed to it then this position may work best for you. Take one or two pillows and place them under your lower abdomen while you’re laying on your stomach. They should be placed in the area between your belly button and your waist, which pushes your hips upwards. This position creates a mild angle at the waist and opens up the area in the front of your hips where the Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve is.

Sleeping on Your Side with Meralgia Paresthetica

The key to sleeping on your side with Meralgia Paresthetica is to sleep with your painful leg on top. It’s uncommon to have this condition in both legs. If you have symptoms in both legs make sure you see a rehab-focused chiropractor and get examined. Symptoms in both legs could be something else besides Meralgia Paresthetica.

Use a 1-2 pillows between your legs and and slightly bend your knees and hips. The pillow between your legs should keep your top leg parallel with your bottom leg, and the bed. By slightly flexing your knees and hips you’ll create a mild angle at your waist. This angle reduces the tension or compression on the Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve.

Sleeping on Your Back with Meralgia Paresthetica

Sleeping on your back can really help relieve Meralgia Paresthetica symptoms at night. The best way to sleep on your back with this condition is to use 1-2 pillows and place them underneath you knees. The pillows help to prop your knees up which creates a slightly flexed angle at the hips. Again, this angle relieves compression or tension at the Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve. If you’re sleeping on your back without pillows underneath your knees the nerve is tensioned or compressed all night. Using a pillow under your lower back at night is probably even worse for this condition, so make sure you avoid that.

Jason Williams DC is a licensed Doctor of Chiropractic with Physical Therapy Modality and Acupuncture privileges. He is a chiropractor in Dumfries, VA at Sentara Therapy Center. Dr. Williams’ clinical expertise is in the evaluation, treatment, and rehabilitation of neuro-musculoskeletal conditions. Specific focuses include spinal, extremity, and sports-related complaints. He brings a patient-first attitude to his treatments and is a proponent of evidence-based and integrative care. See more content and his contact info here. 

The opinions and views are mine personally, and do not necessarily reflect the views of others in the profession, my employer, or organizations that I belong to.