Once I speak about neck support I’m referring to keeping your head and spine in a standard healthy position. This implies keeping the spine straight from the point of view of anterior to posterior and a smooth curvature within the neck from the side view.
In other words, while you take a look at your posture from the front or back your neck and head needs to be straight up and down. While you take a look at someone’s spine from the side there’s a “C” curve within the neck and the ear lines up with the shoulder, and the shoulder lines up with the hip.
So someone sleeping with a really flat pillow or no pillow, tends to flatten their “C” curvature. With too many pillows or something much to thick tends to push the pinnacle up, straightening the curvature and pulling the pinnacle out of alignment forward.
When someone is sleeping on their side, a pillow too flat causes the pinnacle to tilt downward. With a pillow too high the pinnacle will bend toward the ceiling. So you’ll be able to see when taking a look at this person their head and neck usually are not straight up and down but laterally bent to 1 side or the opposite.
So what is the problem chances are you’ll ask?
The issue is that misalignments of the spine of only millimeters is commonly enough to place pressure on nerves causing pain and muscle irritation. And when you allow your head to be shifted out of normal, good alignment, night after night for hours on end your spine will begin to shift permanently in these directions causing neck issues and pain more often.
Using an excellent support pillow should prevent any problems. I take advantage of the cervical linear traction neck pillow which provides support under the neck when sleeping in your back and keeps the pinnacle level when in your side.
This pillow has some extra material built into the neck roll that goes right under the neck. This keeps the cervical curvature in its best position, supporting the spine and eliminating any nerve pressure. Keeping the pinnacle level when in your side also prevents any nerve pressure. And as chances are you’ll know – keeping the nerves free from pressure will eliminate pain!
