C1 Blog

Pillow protocol

We have loads of patients asking about the right number and size of pillow to use, and rightly so.  If you spend 8 hours every day with your head at a strange angle then you’re going to know about it – how many of you have woken up with a ‘cricked neck’ as a result of this? 

Now, your neck can bend forward and backwards further that it can bend side to side and it is this side bending that compresses the delicate joints at the back of the neck and can cause them to really hurt.  So, the key thing is to make sure that your spine is not bent sideways when you are sleeping.  To prevent this you need to adequately fill the gap between the side of your head and the mattress.  The best way to work this out how large a pillow you’ll need is to lean against a wall with your shoulder rolled forward, as you do whilst sleeping in your bed, and feel how large the gap between your head and the wall you need to fill – usually about a hand’s width.  Or, better yet, get someone else to check whilst you are lying in bed.

So, the answer is we don’t know how many pillows you should have as it all depends on you but we know how to find that number out.

Finally, if you are a front sleeper you are in a world of hurt.  If you get a decent pillow then front sleeping does become difficult and you may break the habit – give it a go and good luck.