Never sleep on your stomach. Sleeping on the stomach
increases the normal curves in the neck and the low back resulting
in additional nerve compression and stress to the guiding joints
or facets of the vertebrae.
Sleep on your side with the knees slightly bent and one pillow
between the knees.
Side sleeping — Pull your pillow down into the shoulder to
support the neck.
For sleep on your back, place two pillows under the knees to
reduce stress to the low back, neck and mid back.
Back sleeping - In order to support the neck, the pillow must
accept the weight of the back of the head.
The
following pillows are not
recommended:
- Foam
rubber — The equal density of this material may not accept
the weight of the head but rather keep the head flexed slightly
forward.
- Feather
pillow — No matter how much it's plumped up, the feather
pillow will tend to go flat and not support the neck.
- Use
of two pillows — You may position these pillows for good
support of your upper back and neck but as you sleep, you will
slide down on the pillows again flexing the head forward.
The recommended pillow:
- A moderately
stuffed fiber filled pillow is hypoallergenic and easily fluffed
up to support the neck but still compressible to contour to
the head and the neck in accepting the weight of the back of
the head.
The newer or more fully stuffed fiber filled pillow may be
compressed
by hand to make a depression for the head. These pillows are
inexpensive and easily available, but you may need to experiment
with more than one pillow to find the right one for you.
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