Feather Pillow, your ‘Own’ Pillow or an Orthopedic Cervical Pillow?

Feather Pillow, your ‘Own’ Pillow or an Orthopedic Cervical Pillow?

If you are someone that suffers from neck pain ‘which pillow will be the best for my neck’ is something you definitely have thought about. Many people suffer night neck pain or wake up with a stiff, painful neck- even headaches and arm pain. Problems range from mild-moderate to very severe debilitating symptoms.

The function of a neck pillow is to support the head & neck while you sleep. If the pillow places your head-neck in bad alignment which means, lifts it up and bends it forwards like with 2 pillows or a very thick pillow, this is wrong. On the other hand, if the pillow is too thin, it offers no support at all and your head hangs backwards into the bed. Both of these are commonly seen mal-alignments with pillows that people use on their own without professional guidance.

Sleeping for 6-8 hours on a neck pillow like this places you at risk to aggravate your problems. Even if you are under-going Physiotherapy, Acupuncture or any other treatments for your neck you may not see appropriate results because the pillow may be bringing the stress and symptoms back in.

What the pillow is made of and the shape of the pillow may be factors to consider and think about.

Research indicates feather pillows are found to aggravate neck pain. Extremely soft neck pillows like this offer no support to the bones & joints in your neck. You toss and turn in bed because your neck is finding support which a very soft surface cannot provide.

Very hard pillows like some cotton pillows have no give at all. If your neck is stiff, which it usually is these days with our sedentary desk based life-styles, it needs that the pillow has a little give and softness. Not too much so your neck sags into the pillow but enough to allow the shape of the neck to settle into the material. Very hard neck pillows provide a counter force to the neck and feel uncomfortable, also causing stiffness & discomfort.

An in-between that many patients & professionals recommend these days are ‘Memory Foam Cervical Pillows’. These are made of Memory Foam like those in your Sketchers or back supports. It is a material that has the right amount of firmness & softness. Firm enough to support the neck in its natural shape and soft enough to allow for comfort & absorb forces from the neck.

Foam Neck Pillows come in the flat usual shape or Contoured which are curved to support the neck. Supporting the ‘Cervical Lordosis’ which is the natural inward curve of the neck helps to reduce neck pain. It would be great to get used to sleeping with a ‘Contoured Foam Neck Pillow’ that holds your neck horizontally, the way it is held in the vertical position.

How you know when a neck pillow works for you is when it improves the quality of your sleep, reduces neck pain & stiffness when you wake up!