comment: >
  
  Can confirm. I do this for work, and in a “independent” nursing home with additional care for some residents. Let me tell you, much of their mobility is VERY limited. Often can hardly even move their feet under the covers well, let alone shift themselves completely over. Oftentimes I will even catch some residents sleeping on the toilet hunched over or awake all night!  Of course, I help them to bed where they’ll ask me to shift them around or adjust the sheets, but nobody ever asks me to turn them on their stomachs lol
context: This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.
  Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"
  (For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)
  Rule-breaking posts may result in bans. >
  
  Back pain. Sometimes knee or neck pain. Or all of the above. It sucks, especially if you spent the first half of your life as a stomach sleeper. >
  
  This is me, but I’m 36. Scheuermann’s kyphosis is a bitch. >
  
  32 with degenerative disc disease checking in over here. I attempt all manner of positions before eventually resigning to my back to fall asleep. >
  
  How did you get doctors to take your back pain seriously while still 'too young for severe back problems?" (I'm 34) I hear that AAAALLLLLL the time before they send me to get an x-ray that doesn't show shit.
  I pick up and cremate dead bodies for a living, and proper lifting IS NOT always an option; at least not when you're pulling someone out from a bathroom that died behind the toilet somehow, or is hunched over in the bathtub.  Suspecting my career is one major reason for my back issues. 
  A month ago I was in the ER because the pain was so severe I literally couldn't move my legs and got stuck on the floor while trying to get off the toilet. They found some things that didn't require surgery so they kind of just swept it aside, and my primary doctor doesn't seem to give half a shit either. Don't get me wrong though, they took care of me REALLY well in the ER. They knew I was in pain because apparently my blood pressure was well above a dangerous level. >
  
  Honestly, demand more imaging. You need a CT with contrast to show tears. Push them. Insist. They need to figure out what's wrong before you get injured worse. Sometimes you just have to argue with the doctor til they do the thing. Had to do it with my back and my shoulder >
  
  This. I had several CTs, X-rays, exams, etc. Only a CT with contrast showed my cartilage tears, and that was only done because the fourth or fifth doctor specifically ordered it. >
  
  Yupp. If a doctor refuses, get a new one. Keep getting a new one til somebody takes you seriously >
  
  Sometimes it's insurance as well. They can literally prevent your doctor from ordering something... American healthcare at it's finest. But as the others have said, play the doctor roulette game. 
  M 35 one herniated disc, one bulging, two cyst, one kinda big. >
  
  Insurance fought me getting an MRI on my shoulder for 2 years. Found out finally last Wednesday after my doctor fought for it that I’ve got a torn rotator cuff and a cyst forming underneath it from it being torn for so long.
  Insurance fought another MRI on my neck this summer. 2 herniated discs found when they gave in. I have 7 herniated discs and degenerative disc disease. They fought every single diagnostic test. >
  
  That's rough. Username definitely checks out as well. >
  
  My granddad used to sleep on his back. Naked. Above the covers. And the only way into the house from the pool was through his bedroom.
  Ahhh Grandad John >
  
  My grandparents lived in a fancy trailer park/mobile home park. I mean fancy af. These mobile homes cost upwards of $300k. 
  My sisters and I would go up all the time and we got to know our grandparents'friends all around the park. Super family friendly. Well their next door neighbours were like family and the wife asked me to wake up her husband, as it was time for our big group Christmas dinner one year (I think I was 11 or 12). He was face down and fully fucking naked, with his leg propped to the side, frank and beans smashed into the bedspread. 
  I ran outta there so fast and to my mom and told her I couldn't wake him up and please ask his wife to get him or grandpa. Everyone figured it out and laughed and laughed. 
  Well, laugh it up Chuckles. I never went in their trailer again. >
  
  I laughed at “frank and beans” to be honest (and maybe a downer here), but I hate that for you.
  I’d be taken aback by that as a grown ass woman. What kind of shitty adults send a little kid to wake up a grown man from a nap in his bedroom?
  I hate when people laugh at kids for stuff like that. You’re put in an uncomfortable position, you’re embarrassed and then you get laughed at. Not resentment-building at all or anything. >
  
  You have a pretty low threshold for what constitutes a shitty adult lol. >
  
  This makes me wonder whether yours is maybe a tad high. >
  
  Probably so, from your perspective. Generally speaking I would require something like actual harm or malice to reach that determination. >
  
  Right?  “Oh no, a human body!  The TRAUMA!”  Dude was just sleeping. >
  
  Naked. He was naked. 
  She knew he slept naked. >
  
  We are all born naked. Naked is pretty normal to many cultures and people. This hangup is a you problem and probably comes from regressive parenting and body shaming as well as adding sexuality where there really isn't any. 
  A naked body isn't anything to be ashamed of and assuming sexuality from the act of being nude is prudish and wierd. >
  
  My step dad is in his 60s and he lies in front the the fireplace on his belly and belches like a stranded whale whenever he overeats. Combined with Italian bitters, he swears this method resolves all Thanksgiving/Christmas related gastrointestinal distress. Sounds like you just know weird old people. >
  
  The Op only knows weird old people… I mean, I get “weird” is subjective but I’d read your description of your stepdad again just for clarity. Lol (though I sense a tone of sarcasm there).
  And what is “old”? Your stepdad could died tomorrow and that’s considered kinda young yet. >
  
  I can tell you some more super normal things about him, like how he cuts his own hair, and bought a lifetime supply of ties from a silk tie factory that went out of business in the 70s. Or how he never learned to drive a car but owns pieces of ice boats all over the world. I could keep going until you're fully convinced of his normalcy, but this is probably the most identifying info I've put on Reddit so far. ;)
  But agree, he's young to die (too young, I sincerely hope), but perhaps old to lie on his stomach making sad whale noises. >
  
  I think you're on a different plane - keep doing you, my man >
  
  They know. I'm 20 and I have back pain. I tell you. They know what the forbidden sleeping technique will do to you. They know. >
  
  I'm glad that sleeping on my stomach just isn't naturally comfortable for me. >
  
  I just tried it an it's fucking horrible, who is doing this at all? >
  
  I am. I lay on my stomach, my arms under my pillow, and my legs sort of in a p shape. It’s amazing to me. >
  
  Same, can confirm, 75% of the time that's how I sleep. I was actually wondering just the other day how most people are falling asleep lol >
  
  I never see old people sleeping period. Like why are you watching a lot of old people sleep? >
  
  Maybe they work in a nursing home? >
  
  I worked in a care home as an aide doing a lot of night shifts..it just occurred to me that most people don't see so many elderly folks sleeping...but can confirm: not many - if any - sleep on their stomachs. Though, by that age, they can't really move much of anything, so..it's just not even an option. >
  
  Residents in a nursing home are rarely placed in a face-down position by staff … when you’ve lost you’re mobility, you’ve lost most of your choices. 
  There’s some evidence which suggests falls from bed are increased in residents who were traditionally tummy sleepers who are positioned by staff on their side or back … they’re just trying to get comfortable on a rigid narrow bed. 
  I’m married to an old man who starts out on his back and deep sleeps on his tummy with a leg up. I’m an almost-old woman who prefers to sleep on my tummy as well. 
  Never underestimate the influence of a chubby tummy and GERD on the ability to sleep comfortably face down. >
  
  I'm not even old. 
  I have to spend the majority of my sleep on my back due to too many football related shoulder dislocations leading to weird pinching and numbness if I sleep without my arms down by my side. >
  
  Hubby and I have both had shoulder issues/injuries and found sleeping in a recliner with the head elevated made a huge difference when we are hurting. 
  Something about the shoulder muscles relaxing when we’re laying flat on our backs that causes all the nerves and joints to ache.
  I often start my evening almost on my back with a small pillow propped under my bad shoulder … once I’m asleep, I roll onto my tummy for deep sleep. 
  When my shoulder hurts, there’s just no position to get comfortable. I haven’t tried one of those special slide-your-arm through pillows because I’m not rich. >
  
  Yeah I'm feeling the need to transition from my stomach sleeping to back as I wake up with a sore neck for the umpteenth time. I'll be 30 in a few months.
  Edit: Thanks for the suggestions people. This was a much bigger problem a year ago and it's improved by getting a lot of professional help since. Biggest thing I think will make a difference is my pillow. The memory foam fitted ones aren't cutting it. I ordered a flat one and I'm really excited to try it! >
  
  I stopped sleeping face down in college. Woke up one morning, did a little stretch--instant spasm you could hear. I walked around with my neck tilted about 20 degrees off kilter for a week. Had to go to class and work like that. Campus medic gave me Baclofen, but it didn't help. Pot helped a bit, but not for work and class! So I became a side sleeper. >
  
  Acute torticollis
  You needed a heat pack and some gentle stretches and range of motion exercises. 
  It’s one of my favorite injuries to treat because it’s usually so easy to fix that people look at me like I’m a miracle worker. >
  
  Will keep it mind if it happens again for whatever reason! I'd rather have another Caesarean than that bs. I did try standing in the shower longer than usual and some stretching IIRC, but didn't really know what I was doing. I have AS now so maybe it was a sign.