Quality neck pillow selection and support pillows

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Choose the neck pillow that is right for you

Choosing a neck pillow can be a real pain in the neck! By understanding how a pillow relates to phases of neck problems and stages of healing, determining which pillow is best suited for your particular needs may become a little easier.

Choosing the right neck pillow can be a confusing task. At The Neck Pillow Store we hope to make your decision a little easier by giving you some guidelines to help you choose a therapeutic support pillow that is right for your needs. We have selected some popular neck pillows that we feel best represent the stages of neck problems upon which a better decision can be made.

You now have more choices than ever before in the pursuit of good health. While it’s good to have different options, too many choices can be confusing. To help, we need a basic framework for making the best choices. One area of growing confusion is the growing selection of neck pillows. As the number of pillows on the market has grown, so has confusion about selecting the right neck pillow for your needs. The choice is easier to make by understanding that despite all of the neck pillows available, there are really only two different categories: displacement and supportive.

Displacement vs. Supportive Neck Pillow

A Displacement Neck Pillow uses materials such as memory foam or water that conforms or displaces to accommodate the head and neck. Memory foam, a type of viscoelastic foam, compresses under the weight and warmth of the head and neck to conform to their shape, thereby accommodating an existing condition. Similarly, the water in a water pillow also displaces to conform to the head and neck. A Displacement Neck Pillow will accommodate many distortions of the cervical spine (neck bones) to help stabilize an injury during the acute stage. The acute stage is the first couple of weeks when there is inflammation and pain present from a recent injury or flare-up of an existing condition like arthritis.

A Supportive or Corrective Neck Pillow uses the firm elasticity of resilient foams and fibers to provide support to the neck while softly cradling the head. Supportive pillows are best used in the period following the acute stage when we look to promote healing and prevent conditions from recurring. A Supportive Neck Pillow provides the resistance necessary to gently traction the neck and encourage return of the normal curve of the cervical spine. To select the best neck pillow among the displacement and supportive types, patients and health care professionals must determine the end benefit desired. Is the need to accommodate a recent injury or correct the cause of pain by restoring the natural neck curve? Sometimes we just need to maintain a normal, healthy neck. Whatever the condition, we can help determine the best neck pillow to your physical needs.

Three Stages of Care For Neck Problems:

When people suffer an acute episode to the neck, the initial goal is to stabilize the area for comfort. This helps to reduce inflammation and pain. By accommodating the neck we prepare for correction of the cause which is often a mechanical problem with the neck. Accommodation and correction represent two stages of a three-stage system of addressing neck problems. The third stage is maintenance, and once discomfort improves and stabilizes, a person can enter the maintenance stage to ensure continued good health.

Through the stages of care different decisions are made regarding the selection of a neck pillow to help in the process. This allows choosing a pillow to help manage neck health according to the 3 stages regardless of which stage you are in. We will take a better look at these stages, however, by choosing a pillow that is designed to help throughout all 3 stages, we can minimize some of the guesswork.

Accommodate

May help provide comfort by conforming to and stabilizing the existing neck problem. Someone who suffers from an injury or a flare up of chronic pain needs to feel comfortable. During the Accommodate Stage, a person needs a pillow that stabilizes the temporary condition. Displacement neck pillows work well at this stage because they conform to the condition and provide immediate comfort. A Displacement neck pillow like a memory foam pillow should be used for the short term to stabilize the neck.

Correction

May help eliminate symptoms by treating the cause of the disorder and restoring good health. After the neck has been stabilized, a person enters the Correction Stage. Perhaps the issue is a loss of the normal neck curve or chronic neck pain. In either case, a neck pillow may help. In addition to care from a professional health care provider, a supportive neck pillow can help to modify the sleeping position. Supportive neck pillows help eliminate problems by helping resolve the mechanical cause of pain and helps reestablish proper alignment. The supportive Neck Pain Pillow, with its trapezoid-shaped center and neck contours, encourages proper sleeping form and helps restore the normal cervical curve. Corrective pillows can help alleviate headaches, neck muscle and joint strains, arthritis, and whiplash neck injury discomfort, and help restore proper nerve function.

Maintain

Helps ensure good health by sustaining the neck in its proper, natural state. A Pillow selected in the Maintain Stage should ensure continued good health by helping sustain the neck in its proper, natural alignment. For ideal maintenance, the neck pillow should provide maximum support and comfort. In fact, most people discover that once the normal curvature of the neck is restored, they crave the comfort of maximum support and this is one reason more supportive pillows have grown more popular. As consumers have become more conscious of the benefits of restoring and preserving the healthy, normal curvature of the neck, they have discovered that they sleep better at night and feel better during the day.

Most of the fiber, foam and combination pillows are good for the Correction and Maintain stages with increase in firmness respectively. Note: 2 pillows that provide good support during all three stages are the water pillow and the cervical neck pillow.

In general, a softer pillow for acute problems (recent injury or flare up of existing problem) and a firmer pillow for chronic problems (one that has existed for weeks, months or years). This is a general guide that should accompany evaluation and management by a health care provider.

Don't forget to choose an supportive pillow. People will spend thousands of dollars on a mattress and then skimp on a pillow that doesn't support their head and neck properly. A good pillow will keep the cervical (neck) section of the spine aligned with the thoracic and lumbar (chest and lower back) sections. The sections move together and should be supported together.

• When choosing a pillow, be selective. When lying on your side, your head and neck should remain level with your mid and lower spine. When lying on your back, your head and neck should remain level with your upper back and spine. In other words, your pillow should not be so thick that it causes your head and neck to be propped up or angled sharply away from your body.
• Be wary of pillows that are made out of mushy foam materials. The weight of your head can displace this kind of foam, leaving little support. Choose firmer foam and materials that press back and support the head.
• If you find yourself sleeping on your side with one hand propped under your pillow, that's a clue that you're not getting the support you need from that pillow.
• There is no such thing as a universal fit when it comes to pillows. Find one that is consistent with the shape and size of your body.