“Doc, your adjustments are helping me, but I keep waking up with a stiff neck.” This is a common statement from patients, and the solution isn’t always more massages or adjustments. Often times the pillow being used is too thin or thick and causing the neck to be lower or higher when a person sleeps on their side. In my experience, consistent poor posture while sleeping reduces the effectiveness of a chiropractic adjustment—resulting in lingering neck discomfort.
Ideally, a sleeping pillow should be 4-7 inches in height, but that also depends on how wide a person’s shoulders are. For petite females it averages 4-5 inches; but for a Colts football player with wide shoulders— 7 inches in height is the norm. Everyone has a different measurement from the tip of their ear to the tip of their shoulder. It’s imperative that your pillow fits into that measurement, if it doesn’t then chronic neck pain and headaches can occur.
Unfortunately, when you purchase a pillow online or in a store its one size fits all more times than not, which sometimes leads to what seems like a never-ending search for the right pillow. Furthermore, if you find a pillow that is the correct size, ask yourself—is it firm enough to hold the weight of my head and not get smaller through the night. If its routine to wake up with your arm under a pillow at night lying on your side, that is an indicator that the pillow is too thin. The act of putting an arm underneath a pillow is for support—the body needs this support and does this automatically. If upon waking it feels your neck is too elevated, the pillow is too high—same problem just different direction.
We routinely size and fit our patients for pillows to aid in their response to treatment in the office. Anyone who can relate to this pillow conundrum, may need to switch out their current pillow for a new one.