Autumn Jensen, Sanya Kathuria, Erica Haven, & Matthew Sanville, “Mindfulness and Sleep with Rotator Cuff Disorders”
Mentor: Bhagwant Sindhu, Occupational Science & Technology

This study aims to discover how mindfulness impacts sleep among individuals experiencing rotator cuff disorders. One of the consequences is having a full, restful sleep due to the pain of this disorder. Mindfulness training has been developed to help sleep quality. In addition to, mindfulness is the state of being aware of internal and external experiences. The primary hypothesis is that mindfulness has a direct impact on sleep quality and the ability to cope with pain while sleeping with a rotator cuff disorder. We are conducting a literature review from articles within the past thirty years using search terms, mindfulness, and sleep, and rotator cuff disorders. After sorting through various articles, I focused on five articles that contain those three key words. Factors that affect the structural integrity of the shoulder joint are pain associated with the surgery and the disorder, as well as the ability to cope with stress from the disorder. Mindfulness predicts improved sleep functioning, in addition to overall wellbeing. In addition, accepting the amount of sleep one can receive instead of controlling the amount of sleep can further impact sleep quality and pain management with rotator cuff disorders. Individuals with a rotator cuff disorder have different pain tolerances, cope with stress differently, have different sleep habits, and have different types of rotator cuff disorders which impacts the data from each study reviewed. However, this study has reviewed a lack of evidence on the effect of mindfulness and sleep on individuals experiencing rotator cuff disorders. Consequently, future studies need to focus on how mindfulness may affect sleep when experiencing a rotator cuff disorder.

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