Which Pillow Should I Use?

Which pillow should I use

What pillow should I use for neck and shoulder pain?

I often get asked, ‘Which pillow is best to sleep with?’ And it’s a very difficult question to answer. The reason being is that, there is not a one-size-fits-all pillow for everyone. It is dependent on what position you sleep in. Whether you have neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain, sciatica and what side the pain is on.

A good place to start is probably to talk about what position to sleep in. So, if you look at the textbooks and physiology of how the body works and how it should rest, the body should be lying on the side, arms out in front, head on a prop. It doesn’t tilt it upwards or downwards and the legs at 45 degrees to keep the spine in a neutral position.

Now often we roll over, we toss, we turn, throw the covers off and end up in a completely different position. So, one of the ways to stay in the neutral position is to try and put a pillow in between the legs. This helps to reduce the rotation of the body and the torsion through the lower back. It can help a lot of our clients to wake up feeling more refreshed without pain in the back. As for pillows for the neck, one pillow, two pillow, three pillows sometimes. What’s best?

The problem I have with feather pillows is that there is no consistency. You may have a pillow folded, have more feathers one night than the other. And the neck and the shoulders never get used to having one uniform wedge or support to have their body underneath.

You need to make sure that either take a photo of yourself or get somebody to look at how your head is positioned when it’s put on a pillow. And it needs to be neutral, so that it’s not tipping up or not tipping down to ensure that the head is in a neutral position and taking pressure off the back.

One of my favorite pillows is a memory foam. As it is uniform, solid, doesn’t change shape and time after time, night after night I had the consistency for my neck to rest on the pillow. They’re relatively inexpensive. You can pick them up on Amazon for less than 40 pounds. And I find that once the shoulders nestled in underneath the pillow, the head can prop up and be exactly level of where we need to have it. But usually about three inches thick, which is what you need from the head the gap from the head to the shoulder to keep that nice neutral spine, take the pressure off the neck and the shoulder.

Other pillows you may have tried are Orthopedic pillows. These are the ones with the ridge. These are marmite. A lot of people say they spend 100 pounds and it doesn’t help them at all. It’s really important, if you are going to go down this route that you get one that you’re allowed to send back or test one with a plastic cover on it. That way if you do end up making the investment doesn’t work, then you can always stop it over.

If you need any advice or help on what pillows to use, please let me know. Reply to this email, tell me what you’re using now and what I can suggest. To help you get a better night’s sleep, more consistent night sleep, help me to wake up, feeling refreshed.

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