What Does Supine Position Mean?

Medically reviewed by Reza Samad, MD

The supine position is a term used to describe a person lying on their back with their face and torso pointing up. In this position, your head, neck, and spine are kept in a straight, neutral position. Your arms are either straight against your side or placed slightly outward.

If you’ve ever had a medical procedure, exam, or surgery, you might have been placed in the supine position. The supine position is also a position some people might sleep in and is common in many exercises.

What Is the Supine Position Used For?

The supine position is commonly used during medical procedures, including intubations, electrocardiograms (EKGs), and abdominal exams. It's also common for the surgery team to place you in the supine position to administer anesthesia before a surgery.

The supine position is also used during most surgeries. Healthcare providers prefer the supine position for most procedures because it gives them better access to parts of your body like your heart, lungs, throat, and stomach.

A healthcare provider may also place you in the supine position during surgery if your blood pressure has dropped below normal levels.

The supine position is also commonly used to perform musculoskeletal examinations of the hip and groin. During this type of examination, a healthcare provider will use various techniques to check your muscles, joints, and bones. While you’re lying down, a healthcare provider will look for any swelling, scars, or discoloration across your hips or groin. They will also assess your leg lengths to confirm whether there are any length discrepancies that could point to a disorder.

The supine position is also the recommended position for newborns because it helps reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), which is the unexplained death of babies younger than 1 year. Letting your baby sleep on its stomach increases the risk for SIDS by 1.7% to 12.9%.

Should You Sleep in the Supine Position?

Sleeping on your back is the second most common sleeping position (sleeping on your side is the most popular). One study of 664 people found that 37.5% of its participants preferred sleeping in the supine position.

But while the supine position is useful for surgeries and exams, it doesn’t seem to provide any particular benefits for sleep quality compared to any other position.

In fact, sleeping in a supine position might actually lead to negative effects for certain populations. This includes people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition in which your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, prompting you to wake up.

Among adults, more than half of OSA cases are related to the supine position. And research shows that OSA is more severe in children who sleep in the supine position.

Sleeping on your back if you’re pregnant may also become difficult during the later stages of pregnancy since the added weight may make breathing harder. The difficulty is caused by the increased intra-abdominal pressure from your growing uterus which reduces your lung capacity.

Sleeping on your back causes not only reduced lung capacity, but also reduced blood flow to your placenta in late pregnancy.

By sleeping on your back, you are compressing one of the largest veins in your body, the inferior vena cava. Compressing this vein can cause your placenta to receive less blood flow and oxygen. Research shows that back sleeping has been linked to low birth weight, stillbirths, and high blood pressure.

If you’re a supine sleeper, you can talk to a healthcare provider about any potential benefits or risks the position might have based on your health.

If you sleep in the supine position, make sure your lower back is supported by placing a small cushion or pillow under your knees and your lower back. These pillows will help support your back and prevent chronic back pain.

The Supine Position and Babies

While back sleeping might not be ideal for certain children and adults, it is recommended for babies. That’s because sleeping on their stomach—known as the prone position—can be dangerous for babies.

By sleeping and napping in the prone position, babies can re-breathe their own exhaled breath, which increases their risk for low oxygen levels. Sleeping on their stomachs can also cause airway obstructions and can interfere with heat dissipation, which can make babies overheat. All these factors can increase their risk of SIDS.

The side sleeping position is also dangerous because it increases the chance your baby rolls over onto its stomach.

Sleeping in the supine position is the safest option for babies.

Should You Exercise in the Supine Position?

The supine position is used in many bodyweight exercises, particularly floor-based exercises like:

• Leg lifts

• Glute bridges

• Crunches

• Bent-knee sit-ups

• Bicycle kicks

• Dead bugs

Supine position exercises typically target your core. Supine-based exercises are also ideal for rehabilitating from back surgery.

This position has its limitations, though. You can’t hit every one of your workout goals from lying on your back. For example, if you are trying to improve your balance or stability, you’ll need to perform exercises that require you to stand or be on all fours. Or if you’re trying to improve your cardiovascular fitness, you’ll likely be doing an activity like running, swimming, or cycling.

Overall, the supine position can be beneficial for some exercises. But it is important to make sure that you are choosing the right exercises for your goals and performing them correctly.

Variations of Supine Position

The traditional supine position is commonly used during surgeries, medical exams, and procedures. There are variations of the supine position that can also be used based on factors like age, weight, size, and medical history:

Lawnchair Position

In this variation, your hips and knees are slightly bent and elevated above your heart. This position helps to relieve pressure on your lower back, hips, knees, and core. The lawnchair  position also helps to promote vein drainage in your lower body.

Frog-leg Position

This position has you lying on your back with your knees bent and pushed out to the sides. By lying in the frog-leg position, your healthcare provider has access to your groin, inner thigh, perineum, and rectum.

Trendelenburg Position

The Trendelenburg position is often used in laparoscopic surgeries, where the surgeon makes a minor cut to get access to your pelvis or abdomen. As you lie on your back in this position, the head of the bed is tilted down so that your pelvis is higher than your heart.

Reverse Trendelenburg Position

The reverse Trendelenburg position is the opposite of the Trendelenburg. The head of the bed is tilted up so that your head is higher than the rest of your body. Healthcare providers use this position during upper abdominal surgeries.

A Quick Review

The supine position is the position you are in when you are lying on your back with your face and torso pointing up. Healthcare providers commonly put you into the supine position during medical procedures. There are several variations of the supine position that providers might implement depending on factors like age and medical history. Some people also sleep in the supine position, though doing so may be associated with sleep apnea as well as birth complications. Babies should sleep in the supine position so their breathing remains unobstructed. The supine position is also a versatile position used in many core exercises. 

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