How to choose the best pillow for your needs.

How to Choose the Best Neck Pillow for Your Needs

For Better Posture and Better Sleep

Choosing the right neck pillow can be especially difficult in today's market place with all the selection that is available. Do you choose a fluffy pillow, a firm pillow, a water pillow, a feather pillow, or memory foam pillow? Let's discuss how to choose the best pillow for your needs whether its for pain relief or comfort or just plain old good night's sleep!

What you will need to accomplish this:

Do you suffer from neck pain? stiff neck? numbness or tingling in the hands? Perhaps you have a bulging disc or arthritis in the neck? You are looking for one pillow that you can use to sleep comfortably at night. Do you choose a fluffy, contoured, firm, down, feather, water or foam neck pillow? Well today I am going to help you make a better decision about what neck pillow is best for you.

Things You’ll Need:

Decide what you are looking for in a neck pillow
look at your x-ray or MRI results

Here are some questions to ask yourself when you are looking for the perfect pillow:

Do you do a lot of traveling?

If you are one of those people who are putting a lot of miles on a frequent flier program, you may want to consider a travel neck pillow. A travel neck pillow is often U shaped in design. It can used while you are sitting waiting for your airplane, or sitting on the airplane. A good travel neck pillow will allow you to sleep upright without straining your neck to the side or going back wards. When choosing a travel neck pillow consider a pillow that is going to properly support your neck- perhaps made of foam or fiber.

Do you have Pain While Sleeping?

Do you have mild-moderate neck pain and need support while sleeping?
There are many cervical pillows online that are perfect for support. Often these pillows will have an indentation in the middle of the neck pillow and wings on the side- allowing you to sleep on your side or on your back. These neck pillows are often referred to as "chiropractic pillows" or "cervical pillows" because they are designed to be a good support for your cervical spine. For a good support neck pillow check out Arc4life's Linear Gravity Neck Pillow. It is a great support neck pillow that comes in 3 sizes- small, medium and large. Specifically it has two different neck rolls that you can choose for support.

Do have arthritis or degeneration in your neck?

Also know as "cervical spondylosis" or arthritis in the neck, patients who have this diagnosis often have difficulty finding a comfortable position at night with their pillow. The best suggestion is to get a neck pillow that is going to support the cervical spine. Also a pillow that will properly align the head and neck in the proper position is important. Make sure to get a pillow that is not going to push your head way forward, which places more stress on the cervical joints. Arc4life's Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow serves this function well.

Do you have loss of curvature in Your Neck?

Have you been diagnosed with a "military neck" or as having a "loss in cervical lordosis" in your neck?
This is a diagnosis in the neck- what it means is the a cervical spine is straight and not curved in a "c" position like a normal neck curve. This type of diagnosis is often made after viewing a lateral cervical x-ray (A lateral cervical x-ray is an x-ray of the side of your neck). In this type of case, a traction neck pillow will be a good choice for you. This type of a neck pillow can take a while to get used to but it is great in providing that extra stretch in your neck will give your neck the traction it needs to be in the proper cervical lordosis, thereby giving your neck pain relief. The Cervical linear traction Neck Pillow is a great traction neck pillow that is Doctor recommended. Many chiropractors will prescribe some form of traction to their patients to get the proper curve back into their cervical spine.

Disc Bulge or Herniated Disc?

Do have suffer from a herniated disc in the neck or a disc bulge?
With a herniated disc or a bulging disc in the neck as diagnosed from a cervical MRI, pressure is put on the cervical nerves which directly affects sensation in the arms and hands. It can cause motor weakness and a change in reflexes as well. Overall it can be very difficult to find a comfortable sleeping position. For some patients, neck traction can provide a tremendous amount of relief for symptoms. For this condition the best pillow is a traction pillow- one that provides a gentle stretch in the neck while sleeping. The Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow properly positions the head and neck so that the least amount of pressure is put on the cervical structures.

Are you buying a neck pillow based on your frame?

What is your height? What type of a frame do you have? Are you 4'11 and petite framed individual? Or perhaps you are a 6'2 college football player. Either way, the average medium sized neck pillow is not going to be a good fit for you. There are a variety of wonderful support neck pillows on the market today that come in an array of sizes. The Linear Gravity Neck Pillowis one such neck pillow. This neck pillow comes in 3 sizes- small, medium and large. The small size pillow is perfect for people who are of height 5'0" or less and the large linear gravity is good for people over 6'0. This is a good support pillow that can be used by side and back sleepers.

What TYPE of Neck Pillow Do you Prefer?

Are you looking for a particular filling for your neck pillow?
Are you allergic to fiber or foam? Are you looking for a specific all natural filling? Do you think that the foam temper pedic neck pillows are too hard? Consider getting a neck pillow with a particular type of filling. Buckwheat, Fiber, foam, flax seeds- each of these different fillings has its own benefits. Buckwheat neck pillows have become very popular in recent years. The natural filling of this kind of pillow has some advantages over conventional fiberfill, foam, or feather fillings. The most important quality for the relief of pain is that the material conforms to the exact contours of the head and neck providing support. This means that you have the same amount of support in all areas minimizing the stress on all areas of support. Other filling materials which compress, try to recover their original shape and this puts stress on the muscles of the neck. Other advantages of the buckwheat hull filling are the "cool in the summer, warm in the winter" insulating properties, the ability to adjust the size to your individual needs by removing or adding back filler so the pillow fits you just right.

Are you looking for a neck pillow for headache relief?

Some people suffer from chronic headaches. A neck pillow specially geared for relief of headaches would be one that targets the cervical paraspinal and suboccipital muscles of your neck. Also, if the pillow has an element of cold therapy that will make it ideal for a headache pillow as well. For example, the Headache Ice Pillo can be used to target migraine and tension headaches. It allows you to use medically recommended cold pack for those acute painful conditions or gives your muscles a chance to relax.

When using a new pillow keep in mind that it will take your body time to adjust. In the beginning muscle soreness is a normal reaction. One suggestion is to use your regular pillow along side your new pillow until you are fully adjusted. You spend about 1/3 of your life sleeping- make sure you are doing every thing you can to get the best sleep possible with the right pillow.

What you are Looking for:

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