You will have woken up within the last week with a stiff neck and feelings of tightness, perhaps even a headache. What might be might be causing this. Let’s discuss one factor: Your Neck Pillow. What’s it or is it not doing for you? Is it the source of your neck pain?
What do you think that of when buying a pillow? Is it comfortable? That is probably your #1 concern. Chances are you’ll also ask yourself – will I get night’s sleep? Do you wish a specialty pillow because you’re suffering with a pinched nerve or numbness and tingling? Others could be thinking- okay I actually have a king size mattress, I actually have to get larger pillows. A lot of things to take into consideration when purchasing a pillow because its going to impact your sleep.
Here is a crucial query to ask, that not many individuals first consider: Does your pillow keep you in alignment? This often comes into play with contoured neck pillows. You realize those pillows with a “neck roll”. They will often keep you in good posture in all sleeping positions. The neck roll helps to enhance and maintain that natural neck curve. That is known as the cervical spine lordosis. The mid-back is your Thoracic spine, and the low back is the Lumbar spine.
What exactly does good posture or alignment seem like? Imagine an individual standing in front of you. From the anterior-posterior (front to back), your spine ought to be straight up and down. From the lateral view (from the side), you need to have smooth flowing curves. A “C’ curve within the neck and one within the low back. Actually the low back is more of an elliptical curve (a wider, more elongated ‘C’). With a Neck Pillow you may align the spine while getting night’s sleep!
One of the common misalignments is lack of the neck curve. In order that “neck roll” built right into a neck pillow may be very vital. All the time do not forget that posture is a window into the spine. Because of this if now we have good posture our spine is aligned, and vice versa. And if the spine is in alignment, then the nerves are free from pressure and there is no pain.
Now, the query becomes: will this keep me out of pain? We all know that if we keep the nerves free from pressure, then we keep pain and problems away. With a properly aligned spine, now we have minimal pressure on the nerves. An aligned spine also holds the discs in position. The disc is a ‘shock absorber’ of sorts, and lies between all of the bones or vertebrae. This translates in minimal pinching. Which means you will not have neck pain, shooting pains, numbness and tingling or weakness within the upper extremity.
So are you Sleeping on the Fallacious pillow? Ask yourself: is it too high? Too Low? Is is simply too Soft?, etc… Too high means your head could also be pushed forward should you’re in your back and should you’re in your side, you are tilted or laterally bent. The other is basically true for a pillow that is too low or too soft. This will even be the case for an old/worn out pillow that is too soft..
What if the pillow’s too firm? The massive issue here is that it could be very uncomfortable. You only cannot get used to it. It’s an excessive amount of for the muscles of your head and neck. Comfort is definitely an enormous deal. That is one of the vital qualities of a pillow: Is it comfortable with side sleeping and back sleeping? Getting good sleep is of utmost importance and a pillow that is too hard can hinder your sleep. Worse, you wake in up in pain, discomfort or a headache.
So next time you’re humming or hawing over what pillow you need to buy, consider all of the above points. Next time you get up in pain, consider going pillow shopping. It’ll do your body and your sleep some good. I guarantee it.
