If you, too, wake up stiff and sore in the morning, surely at least once in your life you have asked yourself the fateful question: for neck pain, will a soft or a hard pillow be better? The most immediate answer is only one: neither!
In fact, choosing a hard pillow for sleeping could force your neck into an incorrect position, which after 8 hours of sleep, you would discount with more pain at the base of your neck. If, on the contrary, you opt for a soft pillow, your head will risk sinking into the pillow, preventing proper alignment of the cervical vertebrae.
But in order to better understand whether a soft or hard pillow is better for neck pain, then it will be necessary to rephrase the question like this: how to figure out which pillow is right for me?
Soft or hard pillow, high or low
Talking about a soft or hard cervical pillow does not make much sense if you do not also take into consideration its height. Before buying a pillow, in fact, it is important to take a moment to think about the position you assume while sleeping.
For example, if you spend most of the night resting on your side, the best neck pillow will be one that allows you to keep your head and neck well aligned with your spine. In this case, therefore, you should opt for pillows that are at least six inches high or at least have a height that roughly corresponds to that of the distance between your shoulder and your ear.
In fact, the best cervical pillow for side sleepers is one that avoids tension and excessive neck flexion.
A pillow that is too high, however, is not recommended for supine sleepers. Sleeping on your stomach, in fact, you will need to prevent your neck from flexing too far forward, so rather than reasoning about a soft or firm pillow, you should make sure that the height keeps the cervical vertebrae well aligned with the spine.
Soft or hard cushion: a guide to materials
A pillow, whether soft or hard, is always designed to allow uninterrupted and restful sleep. But what pillow to use for cervical pain? Since the days of goose feather pillows, which are absolutely not recommended for those suffering from cervicalgia, water has passed under the bridge and today you can find different types of pillows on the market, each with its own peculiar characteristics.
If you love sleeping on a soft pillow, you might consider trusting your sleep to synthetic pillows, which are available in a variety of heights and are also the cheapest, though not the recommended, solution.
A hard pillow for a good night's sleep when suffering from cervical pain is the memory foam pillow, which, thanks to the material from which it is made, has the ability to adapt to the size and weight of the head, offering the right support. In contrast, however, these pillows are very hot, especially in summer, promoting excessive sweating, which is absolutely not recommended for cervical sufferers.
And so, here we go back to the starting point: if focusing on a soft or a hard pillow is not diriment, and if the materials of pillows on the market all have advantages and contraindications, with cervicalgia which pillow should I choose?
Before I give you the answer, however, let's look at the different shapes that neck pillows can take.
Soft or hard pillow: the shapes of neck pillows
Partly to fight the competition, partly to meet customer needs, pillow manufacturers have indulged in offering their customers pillows of all shapes and sizes. Let's look at the main types of neck pillows:
- ring pillow - due to their circular shape, these pillows promise to accommodate the head and keep the position of the neck aligned.
- butterfly pill ow--this is a pillow with a special shape, which allows the head to rest on the most prolonged part of the pillow, allowing the shoulders to rest on the bed, due to the shorter area.
- Cylinder pill ow-as the name suggests, this is a cylindrical-shaped pillow that is to be placed under the neck to keep the cervical vertebrae in traction.
- soapbox pill ow-this is a tall, medium-rigid cervical pillow that promotes proper support for the head without compromising the alignment of the cervical spine.
Having also clarified the types of neck pillow silhouettes, let's return to the initial question: what to choose for neck, a soft or a hard pillow?
So, soft pillow or hard pillow? Choose the orthopedic neck pillow!
Needless to get around it too much. If you want to know what is the ideal pillow for cervical sufferers, know that answer is only one: the orthopedic pillow. A cervical pillow works, in fact, only if it is designed to ensure correct posture during sleep.
The benefits of the cervical pillow are well known: by decreasing spinal pressure and preventing the neck muscles from being subjected to unnecessary tension, these pillows allow the drastic decrease of morning stiffness, the alleviation of head and neck pain, and the disappearance of those annoying dizziness caused by cervicalgia.
Tell the truth; how long has it been since you woke up rested and in perfect physical shape?
Soft pillow or hard pillow? Pharmaflex pillow!
Then if you are looking for the best cervical pillow on the market, choose Pharmaflex Cervical, which, thanks to its 3 internal layers of variable density, takes care of your neck and your sleep. The Pharmaflex orthopedic cervical pillow, in fact, makes use of AirCell technology, which after a good 5 years of analysis and testing, now aims to become your best ally against cervical pain.
Remember. The question is not whether a soft or hard pillow can be the solution to all your problems. We have already found that it is not. What matters is the height of the cervical pillow and its ability to promote spinal decompression. Choose Pharmaflex Cervical: the benefits will be tangible.
