Is your pillow painful or perfect?
Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci. from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Most of us hopefully spend at least 8 hours a night with our head on a pillow which can become a big problem if your pillow is not 
supporting your neck correctly.
The spine in your neck curves in order to evenly distribute the weight of your head when upright. Whatever position that you prefer to sleep in, it is important to keep your spine as close as possible to its correct alignment which is how it is when upright. This means that the curve is maintained and the shoulder isn’t squashed.
Symptoms of a bad pillow
If your neck is not supported correctly when sleeping, many symptoms can develop such as:
Neck pain
Headaches
Migraines
Shoulder pain
Numbness and tingling in the hands at night due to the nerves and blood vessels that pass from the neck to the arm being squashed
Upper back pain
Lower back pain
Neck stiffness in the morning
Restlessness or tossing and turning
What happens when your pillow is not right…
Too High
If your pillow is too high your neck will be bent away from the bed stretching the muscles and taking the spine out of alignment.
Too Low
If your pillow is too low and you are a side sleeper then your neck will sag towards the bed putting a strain on the spine and neck muscles. It will also squash your shoulder and make your more likely to roll your leg forwards which puts your lower back in poor alignment.
No Contours
If your pillow has no contours whether you lie on your side or back then the natural curves of the spine are not maintained. A supportive pillow fills the gaps therefore maintaining the correct curves. It also takes pressure off your shoulder if you sleep on your side.
Is your pillow ok?
Here are some questions to ask yourself about the pillow you are using now.
Is it more than 2 years old?
When your lie on your side do you feel pressure on your shoulder?
Do your sleep with your arm or hands under your pillow?
Do you try to support your neck with your hands when sleeping?
Are you constantly fluffing up your pillow?
Do you try to bunch your pillow into your neck for more support?
Do you toss and turn?
Do you have any of the symptoms mentioned above such as neck pain and headaches?
Do you wake up in the morning with a stiff neck?
If you have answered YES to 2 or more of the questions you need a new pillow as you are not getting the neck support that you need.
How to get it right…
How do you sleep?
If you are a back sleeper, the pillow needs a contour to mold to the back of your head and your neck. It will be lower than those who sleep on their sides.
If you are a side sleeper the width of your shoulders determines how high the pillow needs to be. The broader you are the higher the pillow needs to be as the gap between the side of your head and your shoulder is greater. There also need to be a contour to maintain the correct alignment of the spine as there is a difference in height between the side of your head and your neck.
If you sleep on your stomach, you need either no pillow or a very thin pillow as a higher pillow will turn your neck further to the side and produce more strain.
How hard is your bed?
With a soft bed you need a lower pillow as your shoulder sinks into the bed. Therefore you need a higher pillow with a firmer bed.
How much do you weigh?
Your weight also effects which pillow is correct for you as it effects how far you sink into the bed. The heavier you are, the lower the pillow needs to be.
Get someone to check you out
A great way to check if your pillow is the correct height is to get someone to look at you lying on it! If you are a side sleeper, from behind your neck should look strait not bent up or down. If you are a back sleeper then your neck should look like it does when you are upright with your chin a good distance from your chest.
CONFUSED???
After many years of patients asking me for advice of which pillows to buy I decided to start stocking a range of therapeutic pillows. I have trial pillows available to take home and sleep on for a week to make sure that it is correct for you. These therapeutic pillows are contoured for optimal spine alignment and have different heights on the two contoured edges enabling choice for comfort. The pillow has a zip off cover enabling easy washing and the foam is an open cell enabling it to breath for better hygiene. The pillow comes with a 5 year guarantee not to sag, loose shape or crumble.
Disclaimer: information provided on this post is of a general nature and should not be used in place of advice from either myself or another medical professional.
Vale Osteopathy Clinic provides osteopathic services to patients from a wide number of suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Pascoe Vale, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Essendon, Essendon North, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, Niddrie, Keilor, Coburg, Brunswick, Oak Park, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Avondale Heights, Airport West, Travancore.
